KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES - TORTANG LUNCHEON MEAT

Everyone has a saturation point when it comes to food… and I guess when it comes to luncheon meat, my family had already reached theirs. Whereas before, they had been satisfied already when I serve fried luncheon meat or sometimes if it is dipped first in egg before frying…but I guess they have reached their limit…same thing with hotdogs, tocino, and other processed meat. This is a good thing, actually, because that would mean they have started to shun processed food so maybe I can start introducing healthier food for them. And so on rare occasions that I am forced to serve them processed meat, I only do so sparingly and instead add more vegetables and spices to the dish in order to infuse it with flavor.




This is one such dish, I only used ¼ of an entire can of luncheon meat and yet I was able to make a torta that could fill a 9-inch plate. The idea was taken from a recipe that I read from the blog 'Mga Luto ni Dennis at iba pa'…the main difference was that I added potatoes, omitted tomatoes (because I didn’t have any on hand) and it was fried not baked. I first fried the diced potatoes, luncheon meat, and onions in a non-stick pan. Then I stirred them together, seasoned with salt and pepper and finally added the beaten eggs. Before the eggs have set, I dropped the cubed cheese and covered the pan. With lowered heat, I waited until the torta is half-cooked then I turned it over onto a plate and cooked the underside. After a few minutes, I flipped the torta again onto a plate and served with catsup.

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES – Burger steak with mushroom gravy

My daughter’s all-time favorite food is Jollibee’s burger steak so I would often try to replicate this dish using home-made burger patties and gravy. For the burger patties, I simply combined ½ kilo of ground pork, minced carrots, 2 medium onions, salt, pepper, magic sarap, 2 eggs, bread crumbs and a bit of flour. Form into patties and fry in a non-stick pan over medium heat. While the patties are frying, I started doing the gravy. In a separate pan, melt butter and pan-fry the mushrooms then set aside. Melt more butter, add flour all at once, then pour in broth (if you have any) or even plain water will do. Stir continuously and season with salt and pepper to taste, add a bit of soy sauce for some color. I let the burgers cool for a bit, packed it in my daughter’s lunchbox and topped with the mushroom gravy sauce. I just hope that my daughter likes it!

P.S. She liked it!