Margarita Fores's Spaghettini Al Telefono

It takes time to build a relationship. While I revel at every new food find, there are a few that I return to like an old love. Cibo’s penne al telefono is one of them. At the tail end of summer, I joined Margarita Fores at Casa Artusi’s first Divertimento in Fattoria where she showed participants how to cook the spaghettini version of this Cibo favorite. You’ll read all about my Casa Artusi experience in Mabuhay magazine’s September issue. In the meantime, here’s the recipe to Gaita’s spaghettini al telefono:



Spaghettini Al Telefono

1 pack De Cecco spaghettini
½ kilo blanched and deseeded red tomatoes
1 tbsps. Olive oil
1 tbsp. chopped garlic
250 grams butter
1 liter cream
100 grams cubed mozzarella
3 to 4 grates of fresh nutmeg
100 grams Laguna cheese (white cheese)
A bunch of fresh sweet basil chiffonade
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Cook spaghettini according to package direction in boiling, well salted water.
2. In a heavy pan, sauté tomatoes in garlic and olive oil.
3. Add cream, butter and nutmeg.
4. Put pasta in the sauce. Allow some of the salted water to drip into the pan so that the sauce would adhere better into the pasta.
5. Add the mozzarella and mix until the cheese starts to melt.
6. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Transfer to a platter. Garnish with Laguna cheese and basil. Serve.

Recommended Activity in Bali, Indonesia: Cooking Class at Paon Cooking School

 First posted in January 2012

Bali is truly my favorite destination in Southeast Asia. I fell in love with it during my first visit with one of my dearest friends, Badette (now Chef Bernardita at W Hotel in San Francisco), and I have been visiting every couple of years since. If you are ready (and willing), Bali will open up your life to magic and authenticity. 

One of the best things I ever did during one of my visits was to take up a cooking class at Paon Cooking School led by Puspa.

Although this class was popular to the tourists, it allowed me to escape the tourist route since the class was held at the home of Puspa and her husband Nyoman, in a quiet village just a few minutes outside of Ubud’s commercial area.

The tour appropriately began at the market where Puspa met us and introduced us to local produce and ingredients.

Ubud Market

Puspa holding up a pack of vanilla pods

Puspa showing us large cinnamon sticks

Nyoman met our group at a farm where he gave us an introduction to village life in Bali. In Bali, every villager is given a patch of land to farm, but farming, as an activity, was done communally. During my visit, it was harvest season and some of the rice stalks were freshly reaped. Ducks roamed freely, pecking at stray grains.


We were driven to Nyoman and Puspa's home where the former gave us a brief introduction into how they lived, peppering his talk with funny anecdotes about their family. He explained that Balinese families always stayed in a multi-level compound with several structures. The highest level was reserved for the family temple because it symbolized the place of the gods and their ancestors. The middle level was for the parents and grandparents. At this level, Nyoman and Puspa had an open-walled pavilion they called the meeting room where the family would gather to discuss important matters and to resolve issues. Finally, there’s the lowest tier, where the children’s room and the kitchen were located. If the family had animals, they were are also kept at the lowest tier.

After Nyoman's talk, he led us to the kitchen where Puspa was waiting with all the ingredients we will be using beautifully laid out on the table

Puspa thoroughly described every ingredient and the proper way to cook them

Soon enough, we started peeling, chopping, pounding. Then the wok and pots were heated and we began tossing and stirring, and all sorts of delicious aroma wafted from the kitchen. I had my first taste of tempeh, which had me wondering where I could find it in the Philippines.



Puspa's food is one of the best I have ever tasted in Bali. So I would enjoin everyone to enroll in her cooking class, if only so you could eat!

Here's a Tempe Me Goreng recipe you can try at home.

Cooking in Paon Bali Cooking School: Tempeh Me Goreng Recipe

Here's one of things I learned to cook at Paon Bali Cooking School

Deep-fried Tempe in Sweet Soy Sauce

Ingredients:

2 packets of tempeh
10 red chilies
5 tablespoons Indonesian sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis)
4 shallots
8 cloves of garlic
1 spring onion
5 kafir lime leaves
1/4 liter coconut oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Slice the tempeh into thin strips. Heat the coconut oil in a pan, add the tempeh and deep-fry until golden brown. Remove then set aside.
2. Slice the red chilies and remove the seeds. Chop together with the garlic, shallots, and spring onions.
3. Heat about 3 tablespoons of coconut oil in another pan and add the chili mixture until the garlic is light brown.
4. Add the tempeh, followed by the Kecap Manis and torn kaffir lime leaves. Stir well to make sure the sauce thoroughly coats the tempeh.
5. Serve immediately. Good for 4 to 6 people.  

Recommended Restaurants in South Triangle (A Series): Thaipan

Meet my favorite Thai restaurant in the ‘hood, Thaipan. Also above are the two items on the menu you should definitely come to Quezon City for -- the cinnamon pork ribs and the soft-shell crabs.

I've been enjoying these cinnamon pork ribs even before Thaipan was put up. They were an item on the menu of Thai at Silk in Serendra, which had the same owners as Thaipan. Soused with a soy-based sauce, the ribs have an aromatic sweetness that is irresistible, and are as juicy and tender as you want them to be.

The deep-fried soft-shell crab is simply sensational, with pepper-zapped tamarind sauce that will make you say romantic things to a crustacean.

You won't be dining in drab surroundings as well. Almost everything is done in white, save for accents of browns and greens. The decor ia exquisite. The tall ceiling and open layout gives the sense of lounging in a garden, with the comfort of being under the shade.

Thaipan
Address: Sct. Dr. Lazcano St, Diliman, Quezon City, 1103 Metro Manila, Philippines
Phone: +632 3524926

Hong Kong Spring Deer Restaurant: Recommended, Value-For-Money Roast Duck

Hong Kong Spring Deer on Timog Avenue is one of those places that refuse to die simply because its loyal following will not allow it. It looks like it deserves some inspection from the health department but it does roast duck well and its other offerings are equally tasty.

We had the duck three ways–with the skin wrapped in Chinese mushu pancakes with scallions and hoisin, as minced duck meat wrapped in lettuce leaves, and in a soup. "Thou shall not be afraid of MSG and fat" is a good advice to follow when dining at a Chinese restaurant and, with that in mind, I thoroughly enjoyed the crispy duck skin, which contrasted beautifully with the spring onions and velvety sauce.

The salt and pepper spareribs, steamed swahe (small shrimps), and whole steamed fish deserve special mention.

And with a tab of nearly PHP7,000 for a party of 10, the price wasn’t bad at all.