Three course meal. One mystery ingredient. Eighty minutes to prepare. This is the main dish that I prepared for the CEFBEX Culinary Cup Finals 2018, held last October 12, 2018 at SM City Cebu.
I honestly wasn't able to taste all of the dishes that I made because we were only allowed to prepare two sets. One for the judges and one for the public to taste. So I have to recreate almost exactly the same dish at home for these photos.
Here goes the recipe as requested by the people who publicly tasted it during the competition. It's very simple and super easy to make. Ingredients are available in most supermarkets.
Greatly appreciate the compliments by the way.
🙏🏼 Salamat kaayo.Thank you.谢谢.Maraming Salamat 🙏🏼
Pork Steak with Gravy was on top of my list since it was my signature home cook dish that I am comfortable making with... and a constant favorite of my son. But unfortunately The Marketplace ran out of the pork and all that was left was Tilapia and whole Bangus (Milkfish) for us to cook with. When I say whole, it means with bones, gills, intestines and all. (and I have never bought bangus that has not been “professionally” deboned or in “daing” by the fishmongers. I only know how to clean fish.) Don’t you hate bangus’ bones? I do. They are super fine and visually difficult to detect.... you ingest just one piece by mistake and it could irritate your throat or cause serious choking. That is why I avoided using Bangus. (I don’t want the risk of choking the judges either. 😁) Which reminds me, I was told that I was the only one using Tilapia.
Tilapia mainly is a fresh water fish and has a very delicate flesh that flakes off very easily when cooked. Some say that you need to keep the scales intact to prevent it from falling off. In any competition, you want to impress the judges, I wanted to serve them food without the fuss of deboning them. So, I gambled on filleting it, which was my first time. CEFBEX provided us with a good set of kitchen knives that helped me do just that. I realized that with the right instrument, you get to accomplish what you want with ease. I was epiphanic when the fillet knife went though the fish effortlessly. Alleluia or I just got lucky. 😂 (YouTube tutorials paid off as well 😂). Call me trying hard.
One of the techniques my dad also taught (yes, my parents and grandparents can cook too) to prevent food from sticking to a pan is to heat it well, then oil it, wait for it to heat up again to a point before it starts to smoke and place the food in, then adjust the heat to its proper setting. I used a well seasoned cast iron pan that holds the heat in and a good sized spatula that can help you flip the fish over effortlessly. Non stick pans are good to use too but doesn’t retain heat and cook fast like cast iron pans do.
With the Jolly Brand Yellow Cling Peach Halves as the mystery ingredient, i figured that the balsamic reduction that I use in my Beef Steak at home might work well with the fish...actually it was another gamble for me because I haven’t tried that sauce with the seafood. I couldn’t think of another sauce that would compliment the peaches.
PAN SEARED TILAPIA
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Heat a cast iron skillet until hot and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season both sides of the fillets with the coffee rub and a small pinch of sea salt. Sear each sides of the fish, starting the skin side down for a minute in each side, carefully flipping them once only. Set aside in a plate.
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In the same pan, lightly brown the peach slices on the surface. Set aside in a plate. In the same pan, heat the reserved olive oil and sauté the shallots until transparent.
Add the finely diced peaches.
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5. Deglace with 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and a cup of peach syrup and set the heat high and reduce until it reaches half its volume and is syrup in consistency. Add butter.
6.Season with finely ground pepper.
Set sauce aside in a sauce plate.
Basil Mushroom Sauté
Basil Mushroom Sauté and Garlic was critiqued by the chef judges saying it doesn’t go well together because the mushroom’s flavor overpowered the main ingredient. I agree. It competes with the flavor of the fish. I should have used the Camote- Malunggay Mash alone in the first place but ditched the idea because of time constraints. But I included it in this recipe anyway.
CAMOTE MALUNGGAY MASH
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| Please note that I wasn’t able to include this Camote-Malunggay Mash during the competition because of time constraints but I’m including it in this recipe. |
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Place camote and garlic in a pot and fill with water until it reaches the level of the camote. Boil until soft and almost dry.
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| Add the bunch of malunggay leaves towards the end of cooking. Turn off heat. |
How to plate:
1. In a white dinner plate, place 2 scoops of the mashed camote using an ice cream scooper, piling it on top of the other.
2. Place the Basil-Mushrooms beside or on top of the mash. Pour enough balsamic reduction near or around the ensemble.
3. Place the fish beside it.
4. And arrange the peach slices on the surface of the sauce.
5. For picky eaters, you can serve the sauce separately.
Note: Salmon or Lamon-Lamon fillet would also work well with this recipe. Deep frying the fish in batter would also be good.
Happy Eats!
by Jenny Sibi
Prep Time: 30
Cook Time: 45
- PAN SEARED TILAPIA:
- 1 tbsp Olive oil and another 1 tsp reserved
- 500 gram Tilapia (cleaned, scaled and filleted)
- spice rub ( black pepper, Spanish paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, ground coffee, cocoa powder, chili powder)
- Pinch of sea salt
- 2 halves of canned peach 🍑 drained and sliced (reserve syrup
- 1 small shallot, minced
- 1 peach half, finely diced
- 3 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup peach syrup (from the canned peaches)
- 1 teaspoon butter
- Pinch of black pepper
- BASIL MUSHROOM SAUTE:
- 200 grams oyster mushrooms
- Alternatively, you can use a mix of 1 can Jolly Brand Shitake Mushrooms and 1 can Jolly Brand Button Mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- A handful of Basil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- CAMOTE MALUNGGAY MASH:
- 200 grams camote, peeled
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed lightly and peeled
- A bunch of malunggay leaves
- 1/4 cup all purpose cream
- 2 tbsps butter
- Drizzle of reserved peach syrup
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Nutmeg
PAN SEARED TILAPIA:
1. Heat a cast iron skillet until hot and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season both sides of the fillets with the coffee rub and a small pinch of sea salt.
2. Sear each sides of the fish, starting the skin side down for a minute in each side, carefully flipping them once only. Set aside in a plate.
3. In the same pan, lightly brown the peach slices on the surface. Set aside in a plate.
4. In the same pan, heat the reserved olive oil and sauté the shallots until transparent. Add the finely diced peaches.
5. Deglace with 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and a cup of peach syrup and set the heat high and reduce until it reaches half its volume and is syrup in consistency. Add butter.
6.Season with finely ground pepper. Set sauce aside in a sauce plate.
BASIL MUSHROOM SAUTE
1. Sauté garlic in hot butter and olive oil.
2. Add mushrooms and basil.
3.Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
CAMOTE MALUNGGAY MASH:
1. Place camote and garlic in a pot and fill with water until it reaches the level of the camote. Boil until soft and almost dry.
2. Add the bunch of malunggay leaves towards the end of cooking. Turn off heat.
3. With a handheld masher, mash the camote-garlic-malunggay mixture with cream, butter and season with salt and pepper. You can use a food processor for a finer and creamier texture.
4. Adjust consistency with the reserved syrup. It should be like mashed potato. Sprinkle with nutmeg.
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