Salt Pepper Lemon juice Season salmon with salt and pepper, drizzle with a little lemon juice. Steam for 8-10 minutes. Do not overcook.
Lay fish over a bed of lettuce. Slather with mayonnaise, preferably homemade, and decorate with ⅓ cup each: hardboiled egg, white and yolk separated, chopped; pickle relish; chopped blanched carrots; chopped blanched asparagus; chopped mangoes; chopped onions, red and white; red bell pepper, roasted and chopped.
Homemade Mayonnaise
2 eggs
2 c vegetable oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt, to taste
Dill
Bring water to a boil. Cook eggs for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
In a food processor, crack eggs. Add oil in a fine stream, a teaspoon at a time. Pulse until mixture is emulsified.
When you’ve reached mayonnaise consistency, add the rest of the ingredients.
Delicious Garlic Roast Chicken
1 large chicken
2 Tbsp olive oil
2.5 tsp sea salt
1.5 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Garlic butter (recipe below)
Rub chicken including cavity with oil and seasonings. Keep in fridge overnight.
Garlic Butter
½ c butter
1 Tbsp garlic paste
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 tsp parsley
Combine ingredients.
Loosen skin of chicken and slowly spread garlic butter underneath the skin, spreading evenly through the breast and thighs.
Stuff cavity with whole garlic, half a lemon, sprigs of thyme and whole peppercorns.
Truss chicken.
Bake covered in foil at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1.5 hours. Remove cover and save the drippings. Return to the oven and brown the chicken.
Serve with drippings. You may thicken the gravy with some cornstarch or flour slurry. Season drippings.
Serve with corn and mashed potatoes.
Old-fashioned Pot Roast
1 to 1.5 kg beef for stewing (I prefer top blade, cleaned, or chuck, brisket, round)
Salt and pepper
¼ c garlic
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 c chopped onion
1 c peeled and chopped carrots
1 c chopped celery
Beef stock
2 c red wine
A sprig of rosemary
Few sprigs of thyme
Season beef with salt and pepper. Sear on all sides, set aside.
In the same pot, saute the vegetables until caramelized. Add wine. Deglaze pan, scraping the bottom. Return beef.
Add beef stock, enough to submerge the beef. Simmer until tender.
Cook until sauce is thickened and reduced. Season.
Add baby carrots, and some marbled potatoes halfway through the cooking if you like.
Garlic Prawns
1 kg prawns, butterflied
Season prawns with salt and pepper. Brush with a little garlic butter sauce (recipe below).
Bake in a preheated 350 F oven. The secret is to bake for no more than 7-8 minutes for large prawns or until it just changes color.
Arrange on serving platters. Garnish with lemons. Serve with the remaining sauce on the side.
Garlic Butter Sauce
1 c butter
¼ c garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp parsley
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp bouillion powder
Salt
Pepper
Combine butter and garlic in a saucepan. Cook until butter is melted over low heat. Cook garlic for 5 minutes. Turn off heat, add the rest of the ingredients. Serve with the prawns. INQFolllow @iamreggieaspiras on Instagram and Facebook; reggieaspiras.com.
Reggie Aspiras has been writing her food column Kitchen Rescue for Inquirer Lifestyle since 2003. Her columns have been collected in three books released in 2005, 2007 and 2011.
