Baked Tahong

The other day, I went to H-Mart to do my weekly grocery routine. I bumped into mussels in the wet section. It’s quite rare to have mussels here, so I took the opportunity and bought a bag. I remembered my mother as soon as I saw the mussels, and her recipe, “baked tahong”… so yummy and delicious.

Instead of the usual way of steamed, grilled or have it as a soup… “baked tahong” is really a good deal. My sister and her family will probably like it. I wish I could visit them right now to let them taste some. Unfortunately, because of the weather these days, the roads are not clear yet… wet and slippery.

Funny thing is, I keep teasing my brother-in-law that the reason he wants me to be there and cook for them is because he wants to be free from cooking not because my cooking is good. Well, aside from the fact that I love cooking, I like it, when I cook for them. They are so appreciative and honest. Sometimes I cook good, sometimes it’s not, even though I am making the same dish. And they tell that to me. Actually, I noticed, my cooking depends on my mood. If there’s something bothering me, my cooking is bothered as well.

This dish takes a lot of time for preparation, but it’s all worth it. The drawback of this recipe is that I don't know the exact measurements... or maybe we don't need one. So let your creativity and taste buds works a bit more.

Another FACT. Too much of Mussels/Tahong is not healthy if you have high blood pressure. But, you can try adding more garlic to help lessen the effect.

Give it a try… my mother’s very own “Baked Tahong”.

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Ingredients:
Fresh large Tahong or Mussels
Mayonnaise
Minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated cheddar cheese

Instructions:
1. Soak the Mussels/Tahong with water for at least an hour to get rid of the dirt inside the shell. Clean and brush each shell. 
2. Drain it and place it on a pan with no water, cover and cook over moderate heat until shells opens up.
3. Drain and remove the top shell.
4. Mix the mayonnaise, garlic and salt and pepper. Make sure to taste it to have the perfect mixture.
5. Brush or put some mayonnaise mixture on top of each Mussels/Tahong meat. Top with grated cheese.
6. Arrange Mussels/Tahong on a baking sheet.
7. Bake in pre-heated oven with 250 degree heat for 10-15 minutes.

Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

One of my friends visited last July and she shared her expertise in baking. She baked chocolate cake for us at my place. It was awesome and we all loved it. I was fascinated how she made it so simple. I thought baking is so hard and this one was no sweat at all. Actually, a funny thing happened that day, since I don’t bake, I haven’t used my oven ever since I moved in to my new place. So when we tried it that day, we all found out that it’s not working. Luckily, I have an electric oven, a small one that does the work.

Donna's Chocolate Cake [courtesy of Donna]

From that day onwards, we both shared some baking recipes we have. My first experiment was Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. And I tried many things after that… Plain Cookies, Soft Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Crispy Cookies. [I don’t like cookies, you know! ;)] I also tried other stuff like brownies. I even borrowed some cook books in baking from the library. That’s how dedicated I am. I was thinking… I’ll make some simple but delicious and healthy homemade snack for my kids in the future like muffins, cookies, brownies and etc. These days will be my training ground, and I am the taste tester myself. The latest one I made is Oatmeal cookies with Chocolate Chip. That’s what I’m going to share with you today.

With that idea, I think my niece and nephew will probably like it, the way I like them. So, I thought of bringing some when I visit them. But someone told me, rather than doing it ahead of time; why not do it with them, it’s more fun and makes it mean a lot more for them. That’s really a great idea but first I thought, is it feasible? After I set everything up, including asking my sister if it’s ok with her for us to bake, I am good to go. I told my niece and nephew a day before I visited them… I felt their excitement and wanted me to be there soon. I’m glad I did it because we all enjoyed it… including my sister and brother-in-law. My nephew wore the apron and we were all laughing in the kitchen while doing it. And we all enjoyed our cookie afternoon. It’s one of my precious moments with them. All thanks to him. 

I’ll share a secret about me. Sweet stuff is one of my weaknesses. Every time I see something sweet, my body gets so excited and I just can’t help but get one. If there’s someone who wants to make me smile, they’ll just give me a piece of chocolate or something sweet. I know it sounds ridiculous and so childish but it works more often and I like it. It’s more effective back home, especially to those people who are close to me and knows me well.

But I know eating only chocolate is not so healthy, so I am aiming to have more fruits like strawberries, blueberries, apple and the likes in the future.

For today, enjoy my Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chip and Walnuts.
Have fun! l.
 

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Ingedients:
1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown-sugar
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions:
1. Combine sugar, brown-sugar, oats, flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Blend accordingly. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the butter, egg and vanilla.
3. Add the powdered mixture. Mix well.
4. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts. Mix well.
5. Shape into one-inch balls and place two inches apart on an ungreased cooking sheet.
6. Bake at 350 degree for 10 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Grilled Salmon with Mustard Sauce and Asparagus

Grilling is cooking of meat using a grill suspended above a heat source. It is often performed outdoors with a grill (an open wire grid with a heat source above or below), a grill pan (similar to a frying pan) or a griddle (a flat plate heated from below). [1]

Grilling is fun. It’s one of my bonding moments with my brother back home. He used to prepare the grill, and I used to do the cooking/grilling. Or mostly, he used to continue with the cooking/grilling because he didn’t want me to get burnt. Over here, it’s easy since I use the grilling pan. You just need to put it on top of the stove and you’re ready to go. Though it’s easy, I still like the old way… it’s more fun.

For my dish today, I use salmon. I first came across this recipe while I was watching a cooking show during a weekend at home. It looked easy to prepare, and yummy as well, so I thought, why not give it a shot.

I have tried this once before for someone. I was a bit nervous and excited at the same time. Nervous because it’s a new dish and I had no idea of the outcome and excited because I wanted to try it. His first impression? “Hmm... yummy” but while we were eating, the fish bones disturbed him. Since it was a piece of salmon steak, it had some fish bones. Well, it was not as much as whitefish (‘bangus’ in Tagalog) has. So, I suggest, if you are like him, try salmon fillet. But all in all, the dish tastes really good and I like it more I guess.

To start, you need to have the grilling basics. l.

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Grilling Basics:
Grill or grilling pan
Long-handled utensils such as tongs
Brushes

Ingredients:
4 pcs salmon steak
2 1/2 asparagus
1 tbsp. cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
½ cup mustard
2 tbsp. Vinegar

Do the asparagus:
1. Prepare the asparagus by cutting the hard part at the end.
2. In a bowl, put the asparagus, add oil, salt and pepper to taste and mix.
3. Place the asparagus in a grilling pan and cook for 8 minutes.

Do the salmon:
1. Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients.
2. On one side, put salt and pepper to taste, spread some sauce using the brush and put on the grill pan. Cook for 4 minutes.
3. While on the grilling pan, put salt, pepper and sauce on the other side. Cook for 4 minutes.

Source:
[1] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grilling