Back To The Islands

I am expecting visitors (one of my favorite couples) for breakfast today and they will be arriving in an hour or so.  In short, today's lunchbox is also today's breakfast fare:  my new and more Filipino Honey-Garlic Ribeye Tapa (not too sweet) and the lowly Galunggong (round scad) filleted and marinated in a vulgar amount of garlic and olive oil ala Sentro.

For my guests though, I am also setting up an Eggs Benedict station where they can put on spinach, cheese, etc. on top of their poached egg before spooning on some Hollandaise which I prepared in advance as I am using the stabilized version (aka cheater's Hollandaise).  In case you don't know how to that, I shall be posting the recipe here.

I have to go now. Bon jour, good morning and most of all Magandang Umaga! :-)

Today's lunchbox:  My Honey-Garlic Ribeye Tapa, Garlic Galunggong

Cheater's Hollandaise (adapted from Secrets of Great French Restaurants by Louissete Bertholle)

3 Tablespoons Milk

1 Teaspoon Cornstarch

3 Egg yolks

150 grams unsalted butter (a little bit over half a stick of butter)

lemon juice from half a lemon (more if you like)

salt and pepper to taste

1. Put together milk, cornstarch, egg yolks, 25 grams of the butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
2. Stir continuously on top of a double boiler.  When incorporated, add the remainder of the butter bit by bit (cut it into cubes before hand).
3. Et voila--Hollandaise that won't separate and can be reheated gently before your guests arrive.

TapSiRog!

There exists in our country a cult following for the type of dish called Tapsilog.  The name is derived from the combined syllables of the food found in a "plated" set:  TAP (Tapa-cured meat which tastes like somethng between ham and beef jerky)+ SI (Sinangag or garlic fried rice)+ LOG (Itlog-egg done to your liking)= TapSiLog.  I put the word plated in quotation marks because plating conjures up architectural pieces of edible art sitting quite smugly on fine, bone china.  Nope--this kind of food is definitely not that kind of thing.  It is (for the most part, unless you're having it in a 5-star hotel) cheap, quick and depending where you have it, can be very, very good.  

Sometimes, the meat component in this dish can come in overly sweetened concoctions one might mistake for dessert.  Though some people like it just like that, I don't.  I like it when I can nearly not tell where the salty ends and where the sweet begins.  I enjoy that kind of balance when flavors meld with each other that it is difficult to isolate each taste. That for me is what culinary nirvana looks or rather, tastes like--a perfect balance in the harmony of voices of flavors and aroma that you can hear it sing Handel's Hallelujah, a true multi-sensorial and out of the body experience in the same breath. 

Today's lunch is Tapsilog rendered in a Japanese way, hence Tapsirog--my version of a maximalist lunch with a minimalist budget.  My boy doesn't particularly like Tapsilog so I deviced a way to make him eat it.  I made my own tapa using ribeye sukiyaki cut (yes you know me, I'm crazy but you can use regular thinly sliced meat of your choice) which I seasoned with some Japanese Soy and a bit of honey, no preservatives of course.  For the sinangag portion, I toasted some Furikake and rice together and shaped them using triangle nigiri shapers which you can buy in Saizen.  For the itlog part, I made Japanese omelet without the mirin.   :-)

Today's Lunch Box:  Homemade Beef Tapa, Tamagoyaki with no Mirin, Fried Rice with toasted Furikake

Tapsirog Banzai!  :-)