Cooking For Guests

As i mentioned in a previous blog, I had a chance to prepare an entire dinner for some out-of-town guests.

It started off with a delightful (never mind that my blood pressure did spike a little bit) afternoon shopping at the newly opened Rustan's Fresh.

My menu was not fancy- our Sunday fare actually, although a bit time consuming to prepare. I chose a Spanish theme as our guests were from the US of A and Switzerland. We were sure that they would have had their fill of Pinoy or Cebuano food like Sinugba and Kinilaw already as they had been in Cebu for a couple of weeks.

My menu is as follows:

Meal started with a fresh green salad: romaine
lettuce, red lettuce and iceberg; tomatoes, cucumbers,
shrimps, feta cheese, whole black olives, sweet pea shoots
in a dressing made with the oil from the feta cheese, white
wine vinegar and garlic.

The Lengua that I made a couple of weeks back.
I love cooking huge batches then freezing them
in tupperwares, to be thawed and reheated when
needed.

Pancit Palabok as a filler as a couple more people
arrived. I topped mine with squid, shrimps, eggs,
fried tofu, tiny bits of pork, crushed pork cracklings,
and smoked fish. Rich!

I used the thick rice noodles that really soak
up the sauce making each chewy mouthfull
burst with flavor.

Baked Chicken stuffed with Potatoes and flavored
with sage. The drippings make a wonderful gravy.
My nephew can eat one whole chicken so I always
cook 2 large fowls (1.4 kgs each) or 3 if they weigh
only 1 kg or so.

Callos.
I have a newly discovered secret that makes this
dish thick and sticky.
There were many speculations at the table that
night- tomato paste, cornstarch. But no, no.
I did not use any of that :-) hehehe

The looong, hearty meal ended on a high note
with leche flan. This i think, i might safely call
a family recipe as this i how i always remembered
our leche flan made.
It does not have any condensed milk so its not
too sweet.
The strawberry syrup provides a contrasting
tang to the flan.

I just wish for a better camera for better pictures. The one used for these pictures really does not transmit the true vivacity of their colors or flavors.