Market Manila

I was at the FTI Market in Taguig early yesterday morning and came across these spectacularly fresh and terrific looking mustasa or mustard greens (Brassica juncea var.) that the vendor claimed were organically grown. I stopped because I was reminded of a conversation the other night at the Dante Alighieri dinner with “Frayed,” a reader, regarding truly “organic” produce. By the U.S. definitions, truly “organic” means not only has the soil the produce has been grown in has been free of fertilizers, insecticides, etc. for 5 or more years, but the greens themselves haven’t been pumped up, sprayed with or altered by anything “bad.” In this case, the table belonged to AANI, the organizers of the Saturday Market and the group has screened in greenhouses wherein they grow this wonderful leafy produce without insecticides…

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“Kruk-kruk “was a term my mother used to describe something gaudy, baduy, borino, tacky… I thought it might only be a word she invented and only those in our immediate family would understand what it meant. I bought these shell adorned toothpicks for appetizers several years ago at Tesoro’s for just PHP65 per package. I stuck them in a drawer at the beach and left them there to age… I just never got around to using them and as packaged, they actually kind of struck me as being somewhat “kruk-kruk”. The large clam shell holding the tightly wrapped toothpicks made me think of soap dishes in an outrageously overdone little bano in that bizarre house you happened to be a guest at one evening… Heehee, I now realize my mom used to use those shells as soap dishes, yipes! But last weekend I decided to open up a pack of toothpicks and see if they could be made to look useful and more attractive. You can tell I had had my dip in the water, read several back issues of food magazines, munched on several types of fruit, took a short nap, had no internet access and was on my way to getting bored…

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My subscription copy of the December 2006 Christmas Issue of Gourmet magazine was delivered today. The cover of the December issue traditionally features cookies, as Americans bake something like 30+% of all cookies in a given year in the month of December/for the holidays (or at least I remember a similar statistic written up elsewhere)… I ripped open the plastic wrap and the first page I opened to has a recipe for “Balsamic Soy Glazed Chicken Wings” — sound familiar? What a coincidence indeed. A few weeks ago I made a Duhat Balsamic Adobo on the suggestion of reader, Trish that was quite similar… Also, in the same issue, are cookies with Damson Plum Jam, a jam I was just about to feature as my sister’s homemade version from last Fall has JUST arrived by Balikbayan box… This just goes to show that great minds think alike…heeheehee. I AM JOKING. At any rate, if you keep your eyes out for the freshest produce the season has to offer, ideas for your recipes or key flavors will likely converge… Now if only I lived where heavy cream was in season all year round…

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I have only eaten fried Samaral or Spinefoot or Rabbitfish. Its skin sometimes has a weird texture when fried but the flesh itself is firm, clean tasting and great with vinegar or other sawsawan. These specimens were from the Batangas market the other weekend and you can see from the eyes just how fresh they were (clear eyes, fresh fish, most of the time). An incredibly thin fish, my previous post on Samaral suggests they come from the same family as danggit (talk about anorexic sea dwellers) which are, well, FLAT … Nevertheless this is considered a sort of premium fish in the markets today and at PHP140 a kilo it was pricier than some of the other choices in the market. It is found in waters from the Philippines through Indonesia and onto Northern Australia. I almost always consume at least one whole fish for myself since the meat to bone ratio is relatively low…

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Balimbing or “turncoat” or “many faced” is a word that is often used in Philippine politics. In fact, the negative connotation has really taken hold, taking away from the stunning fruit from which the term originated. Balimbing, Star Fruit or Carambola (Averrhoa carambola) is a unique fruit because of its shape with five angles or points and if you slice it a cross-section looks like a star. I actually never ate this fruit growing up, and in the past ten years, I have only really seen it on the edge of glasses with snazzy fruity cocktails in them. I didn’t realize they could be used in jams/preserves, in salads, sautés, etc. I just cut one right this instant to see what these tasted like… these ones tasted like a non-sour kamias or iba. I found it bracing and actually quite refreshing. Good with some rock salt. I read that elsewhere the fruit can get much larger and can have a very pleasant sweet taste…

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Don’t read this post if you are the type that gets all huffy when someone takes light-hearted pokes at you. Just don’t. Heeheehee. You were forewarned! Assumption tarts are not something I grew up with, so I don’t have the strong benefit of “it’s a kid thing….” My mom didn’t go to school there, my aunts didn’t go there and my sisters definitely did not go there. So tasting it without any history, and as an adult overly focused on food, I don’t quite get what the big deal is all about… they are kind of like hard, less tasty pie crust that is used as a foil for some quite excellent guava jelly. And since the recipe harks back to the early 1800’s (according to their tins), I suspect the original recipe was nothing more than flour, lard and perhaps a little sugar and salt. Today, of course, I suspect it is predominantly Purico or vegetable shortening with very little butter, if any.

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I love vegetables but could never be a vegetarian. I love my meat though neither could I be exclusively a carnivore. I can easily finish a cowboy or prime rib steak all by myself (or a 1 kilo bistecca a la Fiorentina for that matter), eat the better part of a goose or duck liver, and definitely sink my teeth into one or two hamburgers with great gusto. At its finest, a home made hamburger a la Marketman might feature a whole sirloin steak ground up and formed into a hefty patty with some salt and pepper and grilled to perfection on a charcoal fire. Add some slowly caramelized onions on top, perhaps a slice of cheese, a grilled bun, mustard and ketchup and this is one of the easiest and most satisfying lunches (somehow I never thought of this as dinner food) that I can think of to eat.

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This is how “fast food” should be defined. Thai red curry mix in a foil packet, canned coconut milk, some cubed boneless chicken breast (this really should be duck but we didn’t have any) and whatever veggies make sense. Traditionally, this might include some eggplants, onions, tomatoes, coriander, thai basil, kaffir or makrut lime leaves…but in this version I added some sitaw, green grapes, chilies, etc. Just sauté the red curry mix and add the coconut milk, then the chicken and cook for a few minutes before the veggies and herbs. At most, 10-15 minutes of work and cooking from start to finish…not even long enough to cook the rice so you should have started that first. This dish is perfect with brown or white rice. I did another version of this recipe here. It really does work better with roast duck so try that when you have some leftover from a take out Chinese dinner. The other instant (or out of a box/packet) dish that I enjoy is S&B Curry that is made with either beef, chicken with potatoes and carrots…so easy and so satisfying. Sometimes, shortcuts are indeed justified…

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