Tuna and Mushroom Torta/Frittata

In the Philippines, what's known as Frittata to Italians is what we call Torta. I grew up with my mom cooking torta of all sorts....from chicken, fish, canned sardines, crabs, eggplant to the most common ground beef or pork and canned corned beef. Most of the time, she would cook it for breakfast to make use of dinner leftovers. During Holy Week, torta made with either canned sardines or tuna is what we could expect on our table. My brother and I loved eating it with lots of ketchup over a plate of hot fried rice. Hmmmm...that's so good! I love it more when my mom cooked the torta over banana leaves. For me, the added aroma from the banana leaves was heavenly! I remember asking her why she loves cooking it over banana leaves...well, she said she's just doing it to easily flip the torta. :)

Nowadays, when I cook Torta, I cook it more like the Italian Frittata-style...I add cheese to it, and to cook the top, I usually broil it in the oven for a few minutes instead of flipping it. I have had a bad experience with flipping torta, so broiling is the best option for me. :)

Just like me, my daughters were introduced to eating torta from an early age...and yes, they love it! This Tuna and Mushroom Torta is one of their faves. As I've mentioned before, they both love mushrooms...so this is something they just couldn't resist. 

For this torta, I used canned tuna with vegetables (because that's all I had in the pantry) but you can use any canned tuna you have. Just drain it and it will work just fine. You can also use leftover fried or grilled tuna or any other fish. Just flake and use about a cup of it. If you are not a big fan of mushrooms, you can replace it with carots, peas, green beans, corn kernels or whatever will satisfy your taste buds. That's the best thing about torta / frittata you know! It will surely be tasty, no matter what you put in it! :)

Shredded Beef with Green Beans and Mushrooms in Bistek Sauce

From the way they look to the things they like, my two daughters are indeed different in many ways like most siblings are. While my eldest got my natural curly hair, my youngest has straight hair like the hubs. My eldest got my fair complexion while my youngest got her dad's medium skin tone. While my eldest hates pink and girly girl stuff, my youngest is so into it! Though both of them love school, my eldest loves to curl up with a good book but hates Math, while my youngest can sit and do Math problems all day but gets upset when it's reading time. Unless told so, my eldest won't help in the kitchen while my youngest is always so eager to help and considers herself as my sous chef. When it comes to food, my eldest would rather stick to burgers, chicken nuggets, pizza, fried chicken  and other food she's used to while my youngest would try anything I serve on our table. I can go on the whole day telling you how different they are from each other...but when it comes to how they are alike, I honestly can only think of a few. Aside from their being so sweet and loving, both of them love to sing and draw. They love dogs, playing at the park, flying kites together and building sand castles at the beach. And as far as food is concerned, both of them just couldn't resist anything with mushrooms! My eldest can be so picky but whenever I serve any dish with mushrooms in it, she can never say no! This Shredded Beef with Green Beans and Mushrooms is an example of that...

Pork and Mushrooms in Teriyaki Sauce

So how's everyone doing? I've been busy with a lot of stuff lately that's why I haven't been on the blogosphere as much as I used to...and I am really sorry about that! One post a week is all I can do now...but hopefully, things will get better and I can get back to posting more recipes for you. Hope you will bear with me and continue to visit PiTCC despite my seldom posts. To all my blogger friends who I haven't visited for so long, my apologies! I promise to make it up to you one of these days! :)

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What I have for you today is something similar to the Teriyaki Pork Chops & Tofu that I shared here before. Unlike the Japanese Teriyaki wherein the meat is grilled, this dish doesn't require grilling. You just have to simmer the meat in teriyaki sauce until it's tender and the sauce is thick enough to give the meat the luster that's needed in teriyaki dishes. The hubs and my girls are big fans of this...and I am too! Though I know that teriyaki isn't really teriyaki without the grilling, I must say that this is such a good alternative! You should try it!

Baked Paprika Chicken and Mushrooms

Hi everyone! Did you miss me??? Sorry for my absence in the blogosphere! Our internet connection was down since Thurday. Our new neighbor had their internet installed on that day and for some reasons (that our service provider hasn't explained to us yet), our connection was affected. It really sucks! But the worst part is that it took two days for AT&T to attend to the problem. It was only fixed last Saturday and we didn't even get an explanation about what really happened.

But at least my connection is up now, right??? I am really happy to be back...and I am glad to bring you another family favorite non-Filipino recipe. 

As I've told you many times, my daughters love mushrooms so much. This Baked Paprika Chicken and Mushrooms is one of those dishes that I came up with to satisfy their craving for mushrooms. The combination of chicken, mushrooms and cheese, and the wonderful flavors of garlic, paprika and sake in it make this a very exciting and delicious dish.

We all love this from the first time I cooked it...I'm pretty sure you will love it too!

Pork Chops in Creamy Mushroom Sauce

The days are just passing by so fast! I can't believe it's Friday again...which only means that the weekend is here. Before I get totally carried away by the wonderful thoughts of weekend, let me first share with you this recipe that's sure to please the meat and potato lover in you!

This is simply made of browned potatoes and seasoned pork chops simmered in cream of mushroom soup. This is very easy to put together but the result is very tasty! If you are like us who don't dine out on Valentine's Day if it falls on a weekday, you can make this a part of the lovely three or four course dinner that you'll prepare for your family.

Have a fantastic Friday and a wonderful weekend everyone! No matter what you might be doing, I hope you will enjoy...

Fried Spiced Perch with Garlic Shrimps and Mushrooms

I remember how much I love spending most of my weekends at the beach with my family when I was young. Playing in the beach with my brother was so much fun for me. We loved to build huge sand castles, play tag or simply lay down on the sand. We also enjoy riding on our big inflatable tubes and let the waves drift us away from the shore.

But aside from all those, there's one more thing that I like about spending time at the beach. Can you guess what it is??? Well, it's being able to eat grilled fish that was freshly caught by the local fishermen. You see, the beach where we usually went to is very rich in marine resources and lots of fishermen go fishing there. During early morning, you can find fishermen unloading their catch on the shore, and my father would always buy from them.

Though fresh seafood are always available in the nearby wet market, nothing is fresher than a wriggling fish dumped in a grill. Even with just salt sprinkled on it, it's so tasty...and my brother and I enjoyed it so much!
Being able to experience how delicious fresh seafood are from an early age is the reason why I grew up being a seafood lover...and I'm glad that I did. Seafood  are not only delicious and versatile, they are also excellent sources of protein, vitamins and minerals with no saturated fats that we can get from eating most meats. I'm happy that just like me and Ryan, both our girls love them too.

This dish that I am sharing with you today is one of the seafood dishes that my daughters love much! It is a combination of ocean perch (which is not common in the Philippines), shrimps and their favorite mushrooms. Ocean Perch which is sometimes called redfish has a sweet, mild flavor and light-colored flesh that's quite tender and can be used in any recipe that calls for a white fleshed fish. We love it fried, grilled or baked.

Perch has a very delicate taste that you'll love even more with the addition of your favorite spices. As for me, I find garlic powder, paprika, basil and lemon pepper to work well on it. The fried perch alone would be good enough, but since the pack of perch that I usually buy has only 4-5 small-sized fillets in it, I love serving it this way, i.e., with garlic shrimps and mushrooms. :)