Date Walnut Squares

A few days ago I threw out a lot of really old food items in my refrigerator and freezer. That prompted me and my daughter to check the cabinets and pantry for expired stuff, and boy were there plenty! My daughter was bewildered why I keep 2 large containers of dates, one unopened and another with about 2 cups left. They don't expire nor go bad but they do take up so much space. Date walnut squares, or as we call them in the Philippines, Food for the Gods, is the yummy result of a little bit of cleaning cabinet/pantry clutter. These tiny nuggets are so rich, so delicious, just one or two will satisfy you. They are very greasy, though, so I wrap them individually in plastic wrap. In the Philippines the bake shops wrap them in aluminum foil.

Date Walnut Squares
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temprature
¼ cup grapeseed or light olive oil
½ cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
½ cup flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups dates, chopped
1 cup walnuts, chopped

• Line an 8 x 8 inch square pan with aluminum foil.
• Pre-heat oven to 325°F.
• In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
• In a medium bowl, with a hand mixer, mix sugar, butter and oil for 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time until incorporated. With a rubber spatula stir in flour mixture and nuts, then stir in dates. Spoon into the prepared pan evenly, smoothing top. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes. Let cool before cutting into 1-inch squares. Wrap individually in pieces of foil or plastic wrap.

moist, soft, buttery bites, so aptly named "food for the gods"

Pasta With Roasted Eggplant

I haven't made this meatless pasta dish in more than 10 years. With so many new recipes to try, I have forgotten that I used to make this frequently. I got this recipe from a magazine a looong time ago, I can't remember which one. It's good either as a main or side dish. I remember using fusilli for this dish, its grooves catch all the yummy sauce. I used pipette, a short pasta that also has grooves, you can use any kind of pasta, the taste will still be good. I also found these sweet long red peppers, the package says "Ancient Sweets" and used them in place of red bell pepper. I can't really tell the difference.

Pasta With Eggplant
1 eggplant
1 red bell pepper
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic clove, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
½ cup olives, coarsely chopped
½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 cup toasted pine nuts
salt, to taste
½ pound uncooked pipette or fusilli pasta
Parmesan cheese

• Cook pasta according to package directions while cooking sauce.
• Score eggplant all over, roast over stove fire until skin is charred. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Roast red bell pepper over stove fire until skin is charred. Wrap in aluminum foil until cool enough to handle. Remove skins from pepper and eggplant, then coarsely chop.
• In a large saucepan, heat olive oil, add garlic and red peppers, saute for 5 minutes, add tomatoes, olives, eggplant, and salt and stir cook for 2 minutes. Add basil leaves, then add cooked pasta. Mix well and transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle with pine nuts and grated Parmesan cheese.

My Paella

My friend Carmen asked for a simple but yummy paella. This is my recipe using one Filipino ingredient, kasuba, and I prefer it really garlicky. The cooking method is also very Filipino as I saute everything and season it properly. The photo here is from this paella; I did not make another batch for this post.

OGGI's Paella1 pound prawns, shelled, deveined and mixed with ¼ teaspoon salt
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cut in 2-inch pieces
2 pieces El Rey or Senyor Rey brand chorizos, sliced
10 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon Spanish pimentón
¼ teaspoon saffron (optional)
2 teaspoon kasuba
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
½ cup Spanish extra virgin olive oil
2 cups Japanese rice
3 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cup frozen petite sweet peas
a few strips pimiento for garnish

• In a small skillet, heat 1 T oil and fry prawns until cooked, about 1 minute on each side, set aside. In a paella pan or a large non-stick pan, heat the remaining oil, add garlic and onions and saute for 3 minutes. Add pimenton, salt, and kasuba, stir for 1 minute. Add chicken and stir fry for 5 minutes, then add chorizo and red bell pepper, cook for 1 minute. Add rice, stirring frequently until almost brown, about 3 minutes, then add 2 cups broth and saffron. Let come to a boil, cover, cook over medium-low heat until almost dry, about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the broth and tomatoes, then mix in the prawns (reserve a few to decorate top of paella), cover and cook for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the sweet peas evenly on top, cover and cook for another 5 - 10 minutes. Arrange the reserved shrimps and pimientos on top. Enjoy.

This is the simplest paella I make, there are a lot of ingredients to prepare but cooking is pretty easy, I think. The best part is the tutong (burnt bottom). Carmen, let me know how it turned out.

An Overloaded Fridge

I bought a larger, side-by-side refrigerator. I got tired of stuff falling out from my freezer causing me so much aggravation, swearing and gray hair. It was delivered early this morning and when I put back all the stuff in the fridge side, they would not fit in! What happened? This fridge is supposed to be larger, 36 inches wide and 33 inches deep. I know the water and ice dispensers take a lot of space but I didn't realize the old one, with top loading freezer and without dispensers has a bigger refrigerator space. Sigh. I actually gained only a little bit more freezer space and it is now more organized with pull-out drawers and shelves, no more falling meats and vegetables. I think we just have too much stuff. We have about 10 jars of fruit preserves, 3 kinds of ketchap, 6 bottles of chili sauce (3 Malaysian, 2 Thai and 1 Indonesian), 5 different mustards, you get the picture. Do we really need all these? Sadly, yes. These half empty jars and bottles of condiments, olives, etc. alone take up 2 shelves! I will forbid anyone to open a new jar of something until the thousands already open are empty and ready to be thrown away. I will be a refrigerator nazi from now on (I think I might be the one who's guilty of hoarding condiments, heheh. I may need to attend a meeting for hoarders anonymous).

The vegetables and fruits bins, on the other hand, are almost double the size of the old fridge because I was able to put the contents of both bins in one drawer. Aha, thaaat's the reason I lost so much space for other stuff. Hmm, are the manufacturers trying to make me buy more fruits and vegetables? I am not amused.:D