Home Cooking School

Have fun.  Cooking is fun.  Home is comfortable. Unify the two. 

Home Cooking School.

    I will bring the tools of the industry to your house so that you can learn to make meals you never thought possible.  I'll show you how to work with your pantry items.  Let's go to the market and not get lost on what they have, but instead find creative ways to use their products.  Try using an actual sharp knife, with the right technique to cut your vegetables instead of your fingers. Flip the mushrooms searing in your pan without losing it all on the floor.  Flavor your food correctly so it tastes the way you wanted it instead of if tasting like you rubbed off the seasoning from a works bagel.  Learn what medium rare means, and what raw really means.  Make a meal together with your kids, while they have fun, and you get to spend some time with them.  Husband can't cook? Let's teach him how to do more than use a grill.  Girlfriend make some horrible meals the last couple times?  Well let's have a "party" and she can cook with your new friend who "knows" how to cook!  Me!  Cooking isn't as daunting as you may believe, let's meet and I'll show you the ways.  If my Mom can cook a meal with me, so can you!

Interested? Contact Me 


Recipe for you to do at home

Nilagah

        A version of comfort soup that the Filipino people devour.  Similar to a pot-a-feu or Provencal daube, a clear beef soup with chunks of tender beef, new potatoes, baby carrots. Served with a bowl of rice.  To add to the smooth soup, a nice bit of bone marrow added to each spoonful. Buttery. 

If you haven’t gotten accustomed to our sour, tart flavors yet, try this Filipino dish.  More dishes that remind me of being at home on a rainy day.  Beefy soup and lots of vegetables and rice?  Some would think boring, but I’m thinking classic.  Maybe the French came to the Philippines before the Spanish did.  Or maybe we are all just connected in our most simplistic ways, including our meals. 

This soup will serve 8 people

450 g/16 oz                    onions (2 medium) cut into quarters
450 g/16 oz                    celery (6 stalks) cut roughly into large pieces
450 g/16 oz                    carrots (4 medium)
1.3 kg/3 lbs                    beef bones with a few of leg bones that have big pieces of bone marrow
5 l/5 q                            water

900 g/2 lbs                     beef chuck cut into 2.5 cm/1” cubes
450 g/16 oz                    baby Yukon potatoes (6 small)
225 g/8 oz                      baby carrots whole
112 g/4 oz                      celery cut into 1.2cm/½” squares.
20 g/4 tsp                       salt
3 g/1 tsp                         black pepper ground

                                      salt and pepper
                                      olive oil

large stockpot                                                      g=gram/lb = pound oz = ounce tsp = teaspoon tblsp = tablespoon q= quart
mesh spoon
tongs
large ladle
knife

Broth
1.     If you want to add a deeper flavor to the soup, you can roast the bones and meat in the oven at 230°C 450 °F for 20 minutes;  this will also keep the soup clearer as you have browned the meat
2.     In a large stockpot, add your bones and beef, and 5 l/5 q of cold water.  On a low heat, slowly bring that up to a simmer.  Brown scum will rise to the top and do your best to skim it off.  Continue skimming regularly for about 10 minutes.  When it becomes a light white bubble you can then let it cook off as this won’t cloud your soup. 
3.     Add your first set of celery, onions and carrots.  Add your 20 g/4 tsp of salt and 3 g/1tsp of black pepper.  Bring that again to a low simmer and let it cook barely covered for 3 hours or till the meat is just barely tender. 

Vegetables
4.     Just as the beef is tender, Take out your large vegetables and add your potatoes.  Let those cook for 10 minutes.  Add your carrots and celery just as the potatoes are about to get tender and cook for 5 minutes.  This second set of vegetables will be in the soup to eat. 
5.     Taste the soup, taste some of the meat and vegetables for their doneness and for flavor. Salt and pepper.  Taste. Adjust.
6.     Serve each guest a portion of meat, vegetables, and a bone marrow.  Serve with a bowl of rice. Some like to use a large bowl with the soup with the rice.  Some like to have a plate with rice and a bowl of soup.  Eat it how you like, but I like having a bowl of soup with all the ingredients and rice sitting at the bottom for every spoonful.  For the bone marrow, use a small demitasse spoon and scoop out bits and sprinkle lightly with salt or drizzle a bit of fish sauce.  Add it to your spoonfuls of food and enjoy.  Adds a nice creaminess to this wonderful soup.  Try a bit of rice, soup and just marrow. Goodness.