Ultimate Fish Fillet Sandwich

A must try easy to prepare scrumptious - Ultimate Fish Fillet Sandwich - absolutely delicious and my family's new favorite. 

Enjoy and Eat well. 

Fish Lumpiang Shanghai

Fish Lumpiang Shanghai

My husband and unico were craving for something crunchy to munch on and something different. So as a doting wife and mother decided to make some lumpiang shanghai but instead of using pork, chicken or beef decided to use fish to be different and at the same time to make it healthier. I know its a bit pricey using fish and tedious to do but I know it would be delicious. And I could picture already the burst of beautiful colors of the fresh ingredients when I mixed it all together. Some insights, most of the time when I am planning what I will be cooking,  I could picture already how the ingredients will look like when I'm preparing it,  how appetizing it will look when done  and the taste, as if I could taste it already. I guess, you could say thats how passionate I am  with my cooking hmm thats  if I am in a good mood hahaahha.

Now back to fish lumpiang shanghai….Luckily when I went to our local asian grocery store, I  found some meaty white meat fish that are fresh and on sale. Bought  about 4 huge size fish unfortunately they can't clean it for me and  honestly I don't like cleaning fish but then again, I guess its my lucky day someone cleaned it for me. Bought also other fresh ingredients for my fish lumpiang shanghai  it would serve as our appetizer and some of it.. I'll be saving and freezing it for snacks for another day and for our main dish I'll be cooking "ginisang sayote" or sautéed  chayote.. I'll be posting the recipe  next time.

Ingredients:

Meaty white meat fish flaked and deboned
carrots finely chopped
kinchay or celery or chinese celery finely chopped
onion finely chopped
lumpia wrapper or spring roll wrapper
salt and pepper to taste

* water enough to cover the fish,
sliced ginger and crushed chili to lessen the fishy taste

Procedure:

Clean fish and put in a pot, add water.. enough to cover the fish.. boil with a dash of salt, sliced ginger and crushed chili.  When cooked let it cool down then deboned it and flaked it.

Saute chopped onion. Then mixed all ingredients in bowl. Wrap in spring roll wrapper then fry till golden brown. Dip in vinegar with chili,salt and pepper or in sweet and sour sauce. Serve as appetizer, main dish or snacks.

Paksiw na Bangus with Ampalaya at Talong or MilkFish Stew with Bitter Melon and Eggplant

Paksiw na Bangus with Ampalaya at Talong
Milkfish Stew with Bitter Melon and Eggplant

We are lucky that our son prefer to eat fish more than any kind of meat such as chicken, beef or pork.  And so I try to prepare or to cook fish in many different ways so he won't get bored eating it. He also tend to eat lots of vegetables when eating fish rather than when he eats any kind of meat.

And Paksiw na Bangus with Ampalaya at Talong or Milk Fish stew with Bitter Melon and Eggplant is one of his favorite.

When I cook Paksiw na Bangus, I use the middle part or belly part of the fish only( luckily they have this cut and ready to buy in our local asian store)  because Bangus or Milk fish tend to have lots of bones so I make sure to use boneless or the belly part only so I won't worry that he'll end up eating some bones.
Also when I cook the Paksiw na Bangus or Milk fish stew, I add Bitter Melon for it contains lots of vitamin nutrients and  I add some eggplants also for it contains lots of fibers and anti oxidant.  And to my surprise our son eats Bitter Melon and Eggplant with much "gusto".  Below is the recipe for the Paksiw na Bangus with Ampalaya at Talong.

Ingredients:
Bangus or Milk fish - clean and cut into desired size. ( I only use the belly part of the Bangus or I use the boneless Bangus when I cook it )
Ginger peeled and sliced
Garlic sliced
chili
vinegar
salt and pepper
water optional if you want more soup or broth and don't want it too sour.

Procedure: Put your Bangus or Milk fish in a pot and add all ingredients. I tend to add some water enough to cover it all because my son loves the broth or soup and I don't want it to be too sour for him. Cook till done and prepare it with some steamed brown or white rice. Serve hot with some soy sauce with calamansi or lemon optional. Enjoy!

Grilled Salmon with Tomatoes and Herbs

Grilled Salmon with Tomatoes and Herbs was prepared on "ourmeza" for dinner with some green salad with walnut raspberry vinegarette, shaved parmesan cheese and some steamed rice.

Grilling your food is not just about eating healthy but could be another way of spending time with your family Everybody could help out in preparing and grilling and then if weather permits having dinner outdoor will be simply delightful.

Ingredients:


Fillet of Salmon

Tomatoes, seeded and diced

Green Onions

Favorite herbs


Lemon slices

Olive oil cooking spray


Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

Put your salmon in nonstick foil and then

Mixed all ingredients in a bowl except the lemon slices.

Then sprinkle the mixture to the salmon top and bottom.

Put lemon slices on top and sealed it before grilling.

Grill and try not to over cook it.

Serve hot with some green salad and some steamed rice..

Fillet of Tilapia,Pancetta Fried Rice and Bread Pudding

When I went to our local grocery store to buy some or few items for our "noche buena", I happened to see the seafood section being stocked. And the prices for the fillet of salmon and fillet of tilapia are fairly reasonable so I bought some salmon and some tilapia. Prices were down perhaps because everyone are buying turkey,ham and beef. But I am thinking far ahead not just for the "noche buena" or christmas day food but our food before the "media noche" and New Year's Day.

And since its a given that there would be some of left over from noche buena, I would not want to feed my family the whole week with the left over. And so in between decided to bring back the fish factor in our diet. And since there are some bread that are about to go stale so why not make it as bread pudding and still enjoy it in few days ahead. And with the Pancetta that I wasnt able to use, I was going to make some quiche with it but from baking cookies and cassava cake, making quiche would be great for another day. I'll post the christmas cookies that my son and I made, and the cassava cake that I made are just simply delicious...next time.

Anyway so I've decided to use pancetta in a fried rice instead. And so last nite for our dinner we had on "ourmeza" some Fillet of Tilpia dusted with tempura, Pancetta Fried Rice, surprise favorite of my husband "lumpiang gulay" (posted already) and Some Bread Pudding for dessert.

Fillet of Tilapia Dusted with Tempura

Fillet of Tilapia

Lemon

salt

pepper

tempura

olive oil

Procedure: Salt and Pepper both sides of the fillet of tilapia and just before frying it dust it with the tempura powder. Fry till golden brown and lemon wedges on the side to squeeze if desired before eating.

Pancetta Fried Rice

Crumbled Cooked Rice

Garlic

Onion

Olive oil

Carrots

Green Peas

green onions

eggs cooked scrambbled

Pancetta browned and crumbled

Salt and pepper to taste if needed (optional)

Procedure:

Saute garlice and onion. Add crumbled cooked rice,stir fry for few minutes then add the cooked scrambbled eggs, pancetta browned and crumbled. Lastly add your carrots,green peas and green onions. If needed add salt and pepper.

Bread Pudding

I have been making this bread pudding since I was in my teens. It is my family's favorite. You could add banana or nuts if you want.

Bread crumbbled

Cinnamon (optional) but I simply love cinnamon in my bread pudding

Eggs

Sugar

Butter

Raisins

(banana,nuts and etc can be added if preferred)

condensed milk

Procedure: Mixed all ingredients and baked for 45 min or till brown or when you stick a toothpick in the center and when pulled out it is clean, then ur pudding is cooked.

Three simple recipe that would make your family feel special. The Bread Pudding can be served as dessert during simple get together as well.

Lemon N Herbs Salmon

Lemon N Herbs Salmon was prepared on "ourmeza" or table for Dinner together with some asparagus and steamed rice.

Salmon (fish) is our family's favorite food especially our unico hijo. Well actually he loves all kind of fish but Salmon is his all time favorite from being cooked as Sinigang sa Miso Salmon to being broiled as Lemon N Herbs Salmon.

It is perfect for low calorie diet. It is healthy,low in calories and saturated fat but high in protein. And many more health benefits.

Ingredients:

Steak salmon can be used also but Fillet of Salmon is much better.

Lemon

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)Butter as well can be used.

Salt

Pepper

And your favorite herbs.

Procedure:

Mixed all ingredients then rubbed it gently into the salmon. Line your pan with aluminum foil then place your salmon and drissel it with a little bit more of EVOO...extra virgin olive oil.

Broil until done or for at least 20 mins or more.

Champorado at Dilis

Hot champorado or sweet rice chocolate porridge and dilis or salted dried anchovies were served on our table or "meza" today for breakfast.

It really feels like fall season is here today. Why? Because it is windy, cold, raining and from our balcony we could see the top of the mountain covered with fog.

We have been anticipating rain since Friday morning but it didnt get here till late at night. So this morning we woke up with the sound of the rain falling hard outside. We dont normally hear it but I left our window open just a tad last nite for some air. We all heard it and we all got excited that finally the rain is here. It is time to have rain out here in the west, especially the southern part. Its been dry and muggy. So when it came late last nite and waking up to it, we were happy that it came. We all end up looking at the window and we're still not satisfied, we all got up and we opened our door and stood by the balcony to see it. Our son were excited the most in seeing it and hearing it falling hard. And then my husband and I started telling him some stories about when it rain in the Philippines it really pour really hard, harder than what he is seeing now. That sometimes you could see roofs flying around because of the heavy and hard rain and whistling wind. And he said " Oh, I want to see that". We, my husband and I both laughed. And we told him it is not a pretty sight to see. It is a story to tell now but being there during that time is not really good.

Ok, so much about that. Raining reminded us also of what good to eat backhome during this time. My husband was like.."hmmm sarap ang champorado ngayon ah". Well as a very doting wife, ofcourse whatever my husband wished for shall be granted. He is my master and I am his beautiful Genie...hahahaha joke. Anyway, he was craving for it and so am I. We happened to have some sweet rice, cocoa powder and some evaporated milk so champorado it is. And we just bought some dilis or dried salted anchovies yesterday so it would be perfect with the champorado.

Ingredients: 1 cup of sweet rice, two swiss cocoa powder (sachet), sugar, 5-6 cups of water and my secret ingredients cinnamon.

Procedure: Boil sweet rice until it looks like the grain have puffed with the cocoa powder when almost done, sprinkle some cinnamon (optional). Serve with milk and sugar on the side. Add milk and sugar according to taste. Side of "tuyo" or dilis is absolute the best side dish for this champorado. ( Vinegar with lots of siling labuyo and garlic can be used as the dipping sauce of the dilis).

Dilis: Simply deep fried till cook and serve hot with vinegar and "siling labuyo at bawang".

Comfort food from back home, time and time again is the only remedy for any home sickness.

Champorado is good for breakfast or snacks.

Sweet and Sour Stripe Bass

Everytime we have some company over in our humble abode, I make sure we make them feel special. So what I do is prepare them a special meal on "our meza" to welcome them. I guess it is a tradition in our culture if not in our family. I grew up with this tradition. And as growing up I've noticed that we dont just do it for out of town relatives but when we dont see our immediate family for quite sometime and so when they come back there would be different dishes prepared for them or their favorite dish would be prepared.
We are not trying to be over acting or anything with all of this preparation but this is our way of saying welcome back or welcome to someone. And so till to this time, after I got married and all, I always make sure I have something special prepared on "our meza" everytime someone is here for a visit. Whether it is my family or my husband's family or our friends.

And so when Ate Dolly came over for a visit, my husband's sister, I made sure we have something special for her also. She has been very supportive of us Carlos and I from the very beginning. So I guess when she comes over it is not just about welcoming her but our way of saying thank you to her also. So on her first day here, I made some Sweet and Sour StripeBass, Stir Fried Vegetable with Sliced Sirloin Beef Steak, Lumpiang Shanghai and Cantaloupe Juice.

For Sweet and sour Stripe Bass, ingredients are Stripe Bass fried in extra virgin olive oil or canola oil, red bell pepper,onion,2 cloves of garlic, ginger, vinegar,salt,half a cup of water and sugar, pineapple chunks optional. Fry the stripe bass first, then in a clean frying pan saute sliced garlic,ginger,onion and half of the sliced red bell pepper. Then add the sweet and sour mixture of the juice from the pineapple chunks, vinegar,salt,sugar and half a cup of water if no pineapple juice. Let it come to boil then add the fried stripe bass or any other kind of fish and the rest of red bell pepper plus the pineapple chunks. Let it simmer and voila you have sweet and sour fish. Tip: Sweet and sour mixture, mixed it according to your taste or to make it easier for you buy a sweet and sour sauce and use it.

Grilled Tilapia in Banana Leaves "Inihaw na Tilapia"

Grilled Tilapia in Banana Leaves or "Inihaw na Tilapia sa dahon ng saging" prepared on our "meza".

The weather been cold,hot and then too cold in early morning for the passed few days. But today, (Saturday) the weather is just perfect. It is sunny but not too hot that you could enjoy being outside in the backyard having some Barbeque and some ice cold drink. We had some Barbeque yesterday for dinner and today for lunch. Last nite we had some grilled Salmon with lemon,pepper and pinch of salt wrapped in aluminum foil and some grilled pork chops seasoned with just salt and pepper. For our sauce we had spicy vinegar with soy sauce and garlic, for salad - caesar salad, grilled corn or inihaw na mais and for our drinks we had some ice cold root beer and ice cold water. Sadly, I totally forgot to take some pictures but today I was able to take the picture of the grilled tilapia (not the Barbeque Chicken though) as my son reminded me to. He remembered that yesterday I was saying that I should have taken the picture of the Grilled Salmon and the Grilled Pork Chops for my blog. So today, he remembered but after the fact that we only have one barbeque chicken left, but the good thing is we still have the Grilled tilapia that we havent started eating because it took us a long time to cook it or maybe we got hungry with all the smell of the bbq that we didnt wait for it, we'll have it for dinner and dip it in lemon and little bit of soy sauce. For drinks we had some ice cold Cantalope Juice as you see in the picture. Like last nite, we had our lunch in our backyard and hang out a little longer with a music for background and it simply feels good to be just out there.

Orange Rose Color blooming in our

garden, as well as purple rose color below. Hmmm can you tell I am a novice when it comes to picture taking? lol sorry.

Sinigang Sa Miso

Sinigang Salmon Steak with Miso

My husband and I eat few kind of fish only. And we are lucky that my son did not get that because he loves fish. You could count the fingers in your one hand and still not count them all with the only kind of fish that we like to eat, not proud of it but it is the truth. So as the Chef of La Casa Castillo , I try really hard to cook a really good fish dish so it would be a constant favorite in our household. And my Sinigang Salmon Steak with Miso is the number one favorite fish dish prepared on our "Meza". It is good especially when you just cooked it and it is steaming hot and you partner it with some steam rice. It is loaded with some green leafy vegetable,raddish,string beans or green beans plus your miso and not to forget your fish so this is really one healthy dish. You could prepare this on a regular day or prepare it when you have a special occasion goin' on in your home and you wont go wrong. Ok enough with the introduction
Here is the picture of the salmon fish as I just finished cooking it. You could substitute any meaty fish example Milk fish, cat fish, stripe bass etc.

Ingredients:
Salmon Steak or any meaty fish
Mustard greens
String Beans or Green Beans
Raddish
Aneheim Pepper
1 tomato
1onion
3 to 5 pieces of garlic.
Shiro Miso No MSG Added (You could use this kind of miso, the frozen filipino miso tend to give a very strong flavor and smell that some people find it too strong and with the Shiro miso you could taste the individual flavor of the ingredients so it is up to you)
Knorr Sinigang Mix (Half of the Package)
Little Salt or no salt at all is ok because this is a very tasty dish already.
Procedure:
Saute garlic,onion, tomato and add the miso. Let it stand for couple of minutes then 2 cups of water at first and you could add more when needed. Let it boil, then add the Aneheim Pepper when its green color paled add your fish,raddish. Let it simmer and when it is almost done add your green beans. Taste it add salt or water if needed and just befor you turn it off add your green mustard leaves.
Serve it hot with your steam rice and believe me you will like it. Easy recipe of Sinigang Salmon Steak with Miso or Salmon with Miso in Tamarind soup base. ( my version of sinigang sa miso Recipe)