Everyday Meals from Chef Monet

Check out our Foodie Pics!

the Bulchands — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:39:08 +0000

Okay, so when Mr. Sun cooperates and everybody is thirsty for some good fun…what do you do?

Us, at the Bulchand household, eat!!! It’s not even the guilt-laden, pig-out style eating (although we do that, too!). The art and joy of cooking is so central to our family gatherings that eating the food is just half the experience. Here’s some pics of what we’ve churned out of our humble kitchen lately.

Grape with Cheese canape

Homegrown cherry tomatoes in Chimichurri sauce (all herbs also freshly-picked from our garden

)

Scallops with Fettucine Carbonara

Garden Salad

Creme Brulee with orange liqueur

Torching the creme brulee!Lemon Pudding Cake with Fresh BerriesThis is how we do it!!!

Chicken Adobo

the Bulchands — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:00:01 +0000

Ask anyone if they know of any Filipino dish and, chances are, you will hear “Chicken Adobo”. It’s THE comfort food that brings me memories of homecooked meals and rainy days. :) The process of preparing (“stewing with vinegar”, as described in Wikipedia) is very simple and basic. With just a handful of ingredients, you aim for a delicate balance without any single ingredient dominating the flavor.

Ingredients:

6-8 skin-on bone in chicken thighs or legs (wings also work great— once your adobo has been in the fridge for a day or so, and it has soaked in all the flavors and the meat just falls off the bones….yum!)

1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
1 whole head garlic
2 bay leaves

Procedure:

Add all the ingredients—the chicken should be half-submerged—to a heavy pot. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook for about an hour, until the chicken is brown and tender, turning the pieces occasionally.

If desired, remove the chicken pieces and reduce the sauce to a thicker consistency, adding the chicken pieces back in the end to reheat. Remove the bay leaves and serve with steamed rice.

Kain na!

Homegrown

the Bulchands — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:17:02 +0000

It is taking me an awfully long time to decide what recipes I will post in this blog. I get too excited with ideas that I end up overwhelming myself in front of my Mac…and then nothing happens. Well, consider this post, just like my banner picture, an egg ready to hatch.

Filipino food is all about comfort food. The kind that reminds you of your mama’s cooking, or something that you would imagine eating on a cold, rainy day. My first few posts will be entirely dedicated to this wonderful cuisine, this hodgepodge of cultures brought about by 3 centuries of Spanish colonialization, 5 decades of being an American territory, and several hundreds of years of trade relations and strong cultural ties with China, Japan, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. Woah! That’s some heavy history right there!

Like any hospitable Pinoy, I say “kain tayo”!

From our kitchen to yours…

the Bulchands — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:56:29 +0000

This blog came about as a response to all our dear families and friends (and friends’ friends) who have persistently asked Monet for recipes of certain dishes that we would serve them or tips on how to make the right vermicelli consistency. Or something to that effect.

Consider this our invitation to join us in our dining table. Most of what we will post here are recipes and stories of food that we had for lunch that day or maybe a twist or Monet’s version of something that we had for dinner at a restaurant last night. It will be nothing fancy or eyecandy. More like simple dishes that you can recreate at your home for the kids, or maybe a dish that you can take to the next potluck to impress your fiance’s mom.

As I have learned from being an apprentice to one of the toughest chefs I have known, the best compliment you can give for a good meal is an empty plate (and the loudest sounding burp you can muster?!). In digital form, an empty plate’s equivalent is a good review and a good recommendation to friends and families about our blog.

Kain na!*

-Tina

*Let’s eat! in Tagalog