Chicken Asparagus Roll-Ups

Christmas is in two weeks! If you're still looking for easy recipes for your Christmas dinner, this Chicken Asparagus Roll-Ups is perfect! It's very easy to make yet so tasty and elegant looking. The best thing is you can prepare it ahead of time.

This is very much like the Chicken Cordon Bleu that I have featured here before. The main difference is the filling. While Chicken Cordon Bleu has ham and cheese, this Chicken Asparagus Roll-Ups has asparagus and cheese. I got this recipe from allrecipes a few years back and this has been a family favorite since then. Because I don't usually have tarragon in my kitchen, I use Herbes de Provence as substitute and I must say, it works well. As for the filling, I sometimes add carrot sticks to make it colorful. We usually eat this with buttered mixed vegetables and rice, but it's perfect with salad or mashed potatoes too.

We all love this! I'm pretty sure you will love it too!

Sinampalukang Manok (Chicken in Tamarind Broth)

Just 3 more days and fall is officially here. I am really enjoying the weather! The temperature nowadays only stays in the mid 80's which is a big relief from the scorching 105°F! Though my family love soup all year round, it's during days like this when we enjoy it more....and Filipino soupy dishes like nilaga, sinabawan, sinigang and tinola are very often seen on our dinner table. 

This recipe that I have for you today is what many call the chicken version of sinigang. Sinigang (as some of you may know) refers to any dish with sour broth. The main ingredient that makes it sour can be tomatoes, guava or tamarind, though tamarind (or what is know in the Philippines as sampalok) is most commonly used. This dish here is one of those that make use of tamarind and it is called Sinampalukang Manok.

Unlike in other sinigang wherein only the tamarind fruit is used, in this dish, tamarind leaves plays an important part. Tamarind leaves have subtle tart flavor and is a good addition to this dish. It can be released by stripping them from the stems and then crushing them a little using mortar and pestle. Fresh tamarind leave aren't available here so I content myself with bottled pickled tamarind leaves. They're good enough when it comes to flavor...but they are bottled with the stems which are too hard to eat so I still have to remove them one by one. But that's all right! This delicious and comforting Sinampalukang Manok is worth the effort! ;)