Pork Afritada

I found some leftover pork shoulder in the freezer and decided to cook this for dinner with some tomato sauce. Did some searching on the net and found a lot of recipes for Pork Menudo and Pork Afritada, the ingredients differed. Eventually, I just picked the one recipe that had the least amount of ingredients from AllFavoriteRecipe.

I started off from that recipe and tweaked a few measurements, this was what I did:

• 1 lb pork, cubed
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 tbsp fish sauce (patis)
• 2 potatoes (Russet), peeled and quartered
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced

1. Season the diced pork with salt and pepper and set aside in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
2. In a saucepan, heat oil and saute pork until no longer pink. If juices come out, spoon them out and throw away.
3. Add the garlic and onion, saute till onions are clear.
4. Season the pork with the fish sauce.
5. Add the potatoes (NOTE: if using Russet potatoes, do not add them at this time as they cook easily and will fall apart before your pork becomes tender).
6. Add the tomato sauce and water
7. Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for 25 to 30 minutes until pork is soft.
8. Add the bell pepper and let simmer.

This turned out quite good, the only issue we have is that we used Russet potatoes and they cooked too quickly. Will have to add them into the pot a bit later (maybe 10 to 15 minutes later) so they don't get too soft.

Taste wise, this turned out good.

Marinated Chicken Kebabs & Herbed Potato Slices

A good friend shared a recipe that she saw on TV (a Filipino channel), when she was describing the dish to me, I did a google search and found the exact same recipe posted on Epicurious.com.

Marinated Chicken Kebabs with Lemon-Pepper Yoghurt Sauce

Admittedly, this was my first time cooking with Rosemary and I was a bit too enthusiastic and generous with this herb. The chicken (thankfully) turned out well and hubby gives his seal of approval although he did request that I make it with bigger chicken chunks next time.

Marinade:
2 cups extra virgin olive oil
juice of 3 lemons
2 tbsp chopped garlic
3/4 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves (I used dried rosemary leaves)
3/4 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (did not use these)
6 single boneless, skinless chicken breasts ( I used boneless, skinless thighs instead)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice the chicken in to smaller chunks (cubes).
2. Combine the ingredients and toss with the chicken chunks and leave this in the refrigerator overnight.
3. Instead of grilling, I popped this in a 400F oven for 30 minutes (until cooked).

The chicken turned out wonderful. I did try to make the Yoghurt sauce as described but it didn't go too well with us and we ended up throwing most of it away.


While thinking about what would best accompany the chicken as a side dish, I remembered a post from my favorite food blogger - PinoyCook's Grilled herbed liempo and potatoes. Inspired, I decided to slice up some potatoes, season them with rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper and arrange them underneath the chicken slices ala Pinoy cook.

When done, the potatoes absorbed the flavor from the chicken drippings and herbs and tasted wonderful!