Baked Bell Pepper with Beef, Blue Cheese, Mushroom and Balsamic Vinegar Filling

I was thinking of cooking this recipe without bell peppers and have the filling on top of portabella mushrooms however; I was having a hard time finding the mushrooms so instead I used bell peppers as the base of the beef mixture instead and just imparted the mushroom taste to the dish by incorporating fresh shiitake mushrooms.

Ingredients:

4 pcs. Bell peppers, large

¼ kg Ground beef

2 tbsp. Blue cheese

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

¼ tsp. Freshly ground black peppers

¼ tsp. Iodized salt

1 pc. Onion, medium, minced

¼ tsp. Garlic, minced

1 pc. Egg, beaten

1 tbsp. Cornstarch

1 tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil

Pinch Nutmeg

½ tsp. Oregano, dried, minced

1 tbs. Basil, dried, minced

½ tsp. Marjoram, dried, minced

¼ tsp. Tabasco hot pepper sauce

1 tsp. Balsamic vinegar

Cooking Instruction:

Clean the bell peppers and remove the stem. Remove seeds and cut the top to create a cup. You may also halve the peppers if you like. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix all of the other ingredients and place the mixture as filling onto the bell peppers. Preheat oven to 220 degrees centigrade and bake the peppers for 30 minutes. Serve with your favourite wine...

Special Meatball Soup

I was thinking of what else to do with meatballs and I created this recipe. Not so perfect yet but tasted nice.

Ingredients:

For meatballs -

½ kg Pork, ground coarsely

¼ kg Carrots, grated

1 tbsp. Oyster Sauce

½ tsp. Iodized salt

5 cloves Garlic, minced

1 pc. Onion, medium, thinly sliced

½ tsp. Black pepper powder

¼ cup large prawn meat cut into small cubes

4 pcs. Eggs, beaten

2 tbsp. Cornstarch

½ tsp. Oyster sauce

1 pc. Wongbok greens save the white hard stalks (about half of the vegetable) and slice thinly for the broth.

For soup –

5 cloves Garlic, minced

1 pc. Onion, medium, thinly sliced

4 cups Water

1 tsp. Iodized salt

1 tbsp. Sugar

1 tbsp. Safflower oil

Cooking Instruction:

In a bowl, mix all ingredients for the meatballs except the wongbok. Set aside until ready to cook.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the garlic and onion until the garlic is golden brown and the onion starts to caramelize. Add water and boil. Once boiling fiercely, add the salt, sugar, and black pepper powder. Spoon a large ball of the meatball mixture and wrap in the green wongbok. Fold and drop carefully on the boiling broth. Do this for all of the green part of the wongbok. Once completed, drop the shredded white parts of the wongbok and lower flame and cover. Cook until vegetable is done and serve hot. Enjoy with plain steamed buns.

Pritong Lumpiang Gulay (Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls)

Spring rolls come in different size and shapes as well as variations. There are fresh, fried, steamed variants. Also the filling comes in a vast array of versions of which one for fried spring roll I have given here.

Ingredients:

½ kg Ground pork

¼ kg Large prawns, shelled, deveined, chopped

½ kg Mung bean sprouts

¼ kg Sweet potatoes, peeled, julienned

½ cup Carrots, julienned

½ cup Green beans, cut into small pieces

½ tsp. Iodized salt

5 pcs. Garlic, minced

1 pc. Onion, medium, thinly sliced

½ tsp. Black pepper powder

1 tbsp. Safflower oil, for sautéing

1 cup Safflower oil for frying the spring rolls

Lumpia (spring roll wrappers)

Cooking Instruction:

Heat oil in a wok and sauté the garlic and onion until the garlic turns golden brown and the onion starts to caramelize. Add the prawn and stir. Allow to cook for about two minutes. Add the ground pork and stir intermittently to cook the ground pork and to evaporate excess water. Add the black pepper powder, iodized salt. When no more runny water remains. Add the vegetables and toss to mix well. Cook for about two minutes and turn off flame. Do not overcook the vegetables as it will become runny with juices from the vegetables. Anyway, they will be cooked once fried inside the wrapper. Cool and wrap in lumpia wrapper. One piece will contain approximately 2 to 3 heaping tablespoonfuls of the filling. Fold and seal with water.

Heat the oil in a Teflon coated pan and fry the lumpia until golden brown, place on top of paper towels to remove excess fat. . Serve with plain coconut vinegar or you may try out something to improve the vinegar sauce as follows:

Special Vinegar Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup Coconut vinegar

5 pcs. Garlic, minced

1 pc. Onion, small, thinly sliced

½ tsp. Black pepper powder

1 tsp. Premium dark soy sauce

1 ½ tbsp. Brown sugar

2 pcs. Red hot peppers, very thinly sliced

1 pc. Ginger, fresh, thinly sliced and julienned (about ½ tsp.)

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients and a bowl and stand for about 30 minutes. Serve with the lumpia.