SAWCLicious: Braised beef short ribs on Mashed Potatoes

Last December, I ate lunch with a friend in Bonifacio Global Street. We went to aFrench Restaurant who served braised beef short ribs as their specialty. It was really delicious and I thought to myself, I can try it. So I went to do my own research online and created my own version of braised short ribs. It turned out pretty well. I prepared it on our team's Christmas Party and they seem to enjoy this dish!

Thanks to my colleague Kara for taking the pictures.

French Beef Stew on Mashed Potatoes

SAWCLicious: Zucchini Spaghetti in Bolognese Sauce

Catching up with friends have been a priority past time lately. Not only as a result of being away for 18 months from my home country but also because I recently lost a friend. A friend who I was supposed to meet 2 months back but didn't have the time to do so because of work. I promised to meet her when she comes back after her US vacation which didn't happen because she passed away during her vacation. She was my college classmate and we majored on the same course. We are not very close but we do meet for dinner or drinks to catch-up. It is difficult to see someone my age pass away but it was reassuring to know that she lived a good life and has now joined our mighty God. 

So, let me go back... catching up with friends, yes. I caught up with a close office colleague who I haven't seen for (guess what?) 18 months! To my surprise, she is so SEXY! She went for some diet that worked and she gave me an idea to use Zucchini as spaghetti as a means of lessening carb intake.

I know it sounds bizarre. I am not a fan of zucchini myself except when served as a soup.  Yes, I eat it but there is something with this vegetable that I didn't like nor will I crave for it. I hesitated trying it and was even having second thoughts after I prepared it. But, tasting this instantly changed me (isn't the picture below enticing?). Nowadays, zucchini is something I would look for in the vegetable section. 

I simply used my bolognese recipe and substituted spaghetti with zucchini. I used a melon scraper to shred zucchini which I then washed and allowed to dry for a few minutes. Then I poured over the bolognese sauce topped with parmesan cheese and served with toasted garlic bread on the side. 

On one occasion I tried blanching the shredded zucchini in chicken stock for 2 minutes and it tasted even better!

 Loving Zucchini....   Try it and let me know what you think!

SAWCLicious: Beef Pita

I am back with my cooking explorations. After taking time off for a few months, I've started cooking again and this time I wanted to focus on cooking some healthy food. I don't know how long this fad will last but I've started to eating a lot of fruits for snacks, avoiding rice, and trying out healthy and delish food. 

So, I've tried to cook beef pita. It's actually a lot more chopping and mixing than cooking. It turned out to be really good and very fulfilling too!

 Beef Pita

Asian Beef Brisket Stew the SAWCLicious Way!

I just said I'm going to cook fish, but look at what I'm cooking! I L-O-V-E beef, and just to give an excuse, this nice piece of beef brisket  has been in my freezer for 2 months now. So, I need to cook it and enjoy a good stew! I really don't know how to call this stew as this is just something that we cook at home. I can say that it tastes in the middle of Korean Beef Stew and the Chinese Beef Brisket. That's the reason why I just named it the SAWCLicious Way! Mind you that this is a recipe from my mom and not really my original recipe. It's easy too cook and the nice part is you can either eat it with steamed rice or noodle. You can even add it in your wanton noodle soup for a good kick.

Asian Beef Brisket Stew the SAWCLicious Way!

SAWCLicious: Sukiyaki (What do I do with Tofu?)

I love tofu, for some weird reason I enjoy eating almost any dish with tofu. So, whenever I get the chance to visit the Asian store, I'd buy 3-4 packs of tofu and keep it in the fridge. Then I'd spent the next 3-5 days thinking what do I do with the tofu. Just when I had my last pack of tofu supply almost expiring last 2 weeks, I called my mom and asked her "What do I do with Tofu?" My mom suggested to cook Sukiyaki as it is an easy to cook dish for a weekday dinner..

It was a really good idea. My mom loves to cook this back home because it's so easy and delicious. It was a good suggestion, so I headed down to the gourmet shop and bought some beef. I asked them to slice it the "sukiyaki" style using the slicer machine. Good thing they know what sukiyaki is, else I wouldn't know how to explain it in French!

Beef Sukiyaki

SAWCLicious Recipes: Salad with Pan-Fried Steak, Crispy Bacon, and Potatoes

Salad with crispy bacon, sauteed potatoes, and pan-fried steak & creamy vinaigrette dressing. Simple and delicious appetizer. 


What I did is to crisp 4-6 pieces of bacon sliced in 1/2 inches width. Once crispy, I set that aside and used the oil from the bacon to cook my potatoes. Once cooked, in the same pan with bacon oil, I pan-fried my steak. The steak was a normal new york strip steak seasoned with coarse salt and pepper. 


To plate, I poured some ready-made mixed salad, crispy bacon, potatoes, and creamy vinaigrette dressing. Then, I laid a few sliced of the steak, seasoned some salt and pepper and drizzled extra virgin olive oil.

SAWCLicious Recipes: Beef with Bittergourd in Oyster Sauce ( Beef with Ampalaya)

I'm sharing the other recipe I've cooked for bitter gourd from my post a few weeks ago. I liked the results of the eggs and shrimps with bitter gourd better than this recipe. Maybe this is because I like beef with broccoli better than bitter gourd.

Beef with Bittergourd in Oyster Sauce ( Beef with Ampalaya)

SAWCLicious: Spaghetti Bolognese

One of French friends got to try my version of Spaghetti Bolognese and he really likes it. I thought he was joking. I only got to prove that he really liked it when he finished the left-over pasta for 3 consecutive days!

For those who wanted to try it out, it's an easy recipe.

Spaghetti Bolognaise