1. food and drink
2. desserts and baking

The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - N o v e m b e r 1 7 , 2 0 1 0
Thanksgiving, Pinoy Style
Irresistible Recipes from Chef Ron Bilaro
Private Chef, Book Author and TV Host of ‘Life Pinoy Style’
by Cynthia de Castro
AJPress
O
ne of America’s
top chefs is
Filipino-American Chef Ron
Bilaro, who is known as a private
chef to the rich, the famous and
the powerful, including Oprah
Winfrey.
Currently based in Chicago,
Ron Bilaro is also famously
known in the Fil-Am community
as the star of Life Pinoy Style
which will air its 9th season this
December over GMA Pinoy TV,
every Saturday at 6 pm PST.
Ron has also written for
Chicago Tribune for 3 years, as a
weekly food columnist. His first
recipe book, LifePinoyStyle book
1 was launched last year and has
sold-out. He is now writing his
second book, due for release in late 2011.
Ron was born in Pasig City, Philippines and attended High
School in Pasig Catholic College. He attended Letran and Maryknoll (now Miriam) College then moved to the States and was based
in the West Coast for several years. He then became a flight attendant for United Airlines before pursuing a career in the culinary
arts.
Ron started working as a personal chef even before graduating
-- at the top of his class-- from the Cooking and Hospitality Institute
of Chicago under Le Cordon Bleu. He apprenticed as a pastry chef
at Rhapsody and trained under Chef Gene Kato, who is now the
executive chef of Chicago’s premier restaurant, Japonaise. He then
became the sous chef of Art Smith, Oprah’s personal chef who
featured Ron in his book, Kitchen Life.
Ron has also cooked for Hollywood’s best but keeps his roster
of clients private. His regular Chicago client base is made up of
corporate families, though special events and private dinners continue to fill up his professional calendar. He has been featured in
newspapers and magazines in Chicago and has been interviewed
on CBS.
Ron’s stint with Oprah is the one career highlight that everyone
wants to know about.
When asked the inevitable question, “What’s it like cooking
for Oprah?,” he replies with a grin, “It’s just like cooking for you.
It took some time but I now realize that it shouldn’t matter whom
you’re cooking for. Just focus on the food and COOK.”
Aside from hosting Life Pinoy Style, Bilaro is also currently one
of the celebrity friends of the Ronald McDonald House Charities
that promotes the welfare of children around the world. He is also
in the process of writing a heart healthy book with prominent Chicago cardiologist Dr. Annabelle Santos Volgman. Ron is likewise an
active supporter of Gawad Kalinga, an anti-poverty movement in
the Philippines and other developing countries.
As an exclusive Thanksgiving treat for Asian Journal readers,
Ron has prepared a delectable dinner menu, complete from appetizer, to 3 main dishes, to a yummy dessert.
Ron’s menu is a fusion of Pinoy and other cuisines. “Living
here in the States for many years now has given me the chance to
explore different types of cuisine. I realize that many of our classic
dishes can be easily integrated or fused with other cuisines,” said
explained.
“I suggest these dishes for people who find it hard to access
original Pinoy ingredients. I make these dishes to give my fellow
kababayans options or ideas to make our classic dishes a little
different or unique, sometimes simpler, occasionally healthier or in
some cases—to give it another appeal, to make it even more palatable to non-Filipino guests,” said the young chef.
Known as a very generous guy who constantly helps needy
people, especially those back home in the Philippines, Ron explains
what Thanksgiving means to him. “Thanksgiving is not just a day of
feasting. It is also a day when we unite and express our gratitude
for the kindness shown by our family and friends. We say thank you
to all the blessings we receive from our God. I have so much to
thank for. A wonderful gift, the talent for cooking, tops it all. With
this, I was able to reach out to many. Of course, I am thankful that
my family is healthy. I am also thankful for my health. I thank God
for all the people He surrounds me everyday, for without these
people, I would not have the courage to be where I am now.”
Ever coming up with new things, Ron is promoting a uniqueand delicious- adventure. “Life Pinoy Style sails to the Carribean
from April 10 to 17, 2011. I am inviting everyone to come and join
us in this once in a lifetime experience.”
Among the blessings Ron is thankful for this Thanksgiving is the
countless number of fans who never fail to watch his show. “To all
of you my dear friends, maraming salamat po sa walang sawang
pagtanggap nyo sa akin sa inyong tahanan every Saturday. You
may add me as your friend in Facebook under chef Ron Bilaro and
for more recipes and food pictures, be a fan of Lifepinoystyle in
Facebook as well,” said Ron.
(For those interested in the Caribbean cruise, please visit www.
bestcruisesntours.com or contact Marita Domingo at 1-800-5191806 or [email protected] for more information. The
password to register: lifepinoystyle. Make sure to mention that you
want to join the Life Pinoy Style cruise. For more information and
dishes featured in the show, please visit Lifepinoystyle.com)
Chef Ron Bilaro’s Thanksgiving Spread
Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Sausage and Mushroom
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Yields: 12 servings
6 pounds sweet potatoes,
peeled and cut into cubes
1/3 cup honey
½ cup butter, melted
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 packages of chicken sausages (8 pieces), diced
2 packages shitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
Pre-heat oven to 375 F.
Place potatoes in a single
layer on a large baking sheet
coated with cooking spray and
bake for an hour until tender,
stirring once in a while. Remove
from the oven and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium
pan for about a minute. Add
sausage and cook for about
8 minutes until brown stirring
occasionally. Remove from the
pan and set aside. Add mushrooms to the pan and cook for
3 minutes until brown and liquid
evaporates. Combine sweet
potatoes, honey and butter and
mash. Stir in sausage and mushrooms. Serve right away.
Seafood Paella Valenciana
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour and
10 minutes
Yields: 12 as main course
¼ cup olive oil
1 ¼ pound boneless skinless
chicken breast diced large
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 large green bell pepper,
seeded and diced medium
3 large Roma tomatoes,
chopped
2 teaspoons saffron
2 teaspoons Spanish Paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
1 ½ quarts to 2 quarts
chicken stock
3 cups of medium grain rice
3 tablespoons unsalted
butter
1 pound squid or calamari,
cleaned, bodies cut into rings
1 pound medium size raw
shrimp, peeled and deveined
25 pieces mussels, beard
removed and washed off sand
and dirt with cold water
½ pound bay scallops
¼ cup dry white wine like
vermouth
1 cup finely chopped fresh
parsley leaves
1 red bell pepper, seeded
and cut into thin strips
In a large sauté pan, heat
oil for about 1 minute over
medium to high heat. Add
garlic and cook for 30 seconds
stirring constantly. Add tomatoes and bell pepper and cook
for another minute. Transfer
to a large mixing bowl and set
aside. This mixture will give you
a lot of liquid when it is cooled.
Separate the liquid and set
aside. You will need this later.
Meanwhile, dissolve saffron
and paprika in a small bowl with
about ¼ cup water. Set aside.
Combine stock and the liquid
residual produced from cooking
the tomatoes and bell pepper.
This is about 2 cups. Pour about
1 quart of stock into a large
stock pot. Bring to boil a 3
minutes. Add dissolved saffron
and paprika and stir. Add rice
and keep stirring for 30 minutes
using a wooden spatula. If rice
dries out before it’s cooked,
add more stock. Adding liquid
gradually to the rice while cooking will prevent the rice from
being too runny or mushy when
it’s cooked. You may require
to cook the rice longer than
30 minutes before it’s cooked.
Taste and check if it’s soft. Season with salt and pepper and
set aside for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, melt butter in
a large non stick skillet using
medium to high heat @ 1 minute. Add calamari and shrimp.
Stir and cook for about 1 ½
minutes until squid is cooked
and shrimp turned opaque.
Add scallops and mussels. Keep
stirring and cook for another
minute. Discard unopened
mussels. Add white wine and
cook for about 30 seconds. Stir
in chopped parsley and red bell
pepper. Season with salt and
pepper.
In a very large mixing bowl,
place seafood with tomatoes
and bell pepper. Gradually add
rice until well combined. Transfer into a large platter. Serve
with lemon wedges on the side.
Serve hot.
Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut-Mango Sauce
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 4 minutes
Serves: 8 to 10
4 to 6 boneless chicken
breast fillets, cut into strips (about
2 pounds) – cut into ½ inch slices,
about 6 slices per breast. Then
cut each slice in half cross wise,
giving you 48 pieces.
20 bamboo skewers – soaked
for at least 2 hours or longer in
water
1 ½ cups yellow curry powder
½ cup white sugar
MDWK Magazine NOV 17wads.indd 2
Lechon Chicken Pecho in Sour Cream Picatta Sauce
Salt and pepper
Combine chicken strips, curry
powder, sugar in a large zip loc
bag. Season with salt and pepper. Shake well making sure it is
well combined. Skewer chicken
strips in bamboo skewers.
Meanwhile, pre-heat a grill
pan for about 2 minutes. Coat
grill pan generously with cooking
spray. Grill chicken for about
2 minutes each side or a little
longer until cooked. Soaking
bamboo skewers in water for a
Paksiw Pork Roast
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 hours
Yields: 10 to 12 servings
2 pieces Pork shoulder roast
about 6 pounds each piece
Salt and pepper
1 cup orange juice
1 cup soy sauce
¼ cup sugar
5 pieces bay leaves
3 carrots, peeled and cut into
chunks
5 celery stalks, cut into large
pieces
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Yields: 4 servings
2 tablespoons thyme leaves
3 cloves garlic
½ cup lemon juice or juice
of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 chicken breasts, bone in
and skin intact (these are large
pieces I buy from Whole Foods)
Pre-set the oven to roast at
400 F.
Using a food processor,
puree 2 tablespoons thyme
leaves, 3 cloves garlic, juice
of 1 lemon or (1/2 cup lemon
juice), 1 tablespoon sugar,
½ teaspoon salt and pepper
with 3 tablespoons olive oil.
Rub the chicken breasts
with the mixture, cover with
plastic wrap and chill in the
refrigerator for 15 minutes or
longer.
Place in half a sheet baking
pan and roast for 30 minutes
until the skin is browned and
chicken are completely cooked
through.
Remove from the oven and
cool chicken down before serving with the sauce.
Sour Cream Picatta Sauce
Note: if you want the
sauce to be thicker, you
can temper 1 tablespoon of
cornstarch with half cup of
the sauce and then whisk it
in the remaining sauce as
long period of time will prevent it
from burning when grilled. Finish
the process until chicken pieces
are all grilled.
Sauce
½ cup peanut butter crunchy
or creamy
2 tbsp light soy sauce
Juice of 1 lime
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted
and coarsely chopped
¼ cup raisins
½ cup water + 1 tablespoon
¾ teaspoon pepper flakes
For the sauce - Combine all
sauce ingredients in a blender
and puree. Serve with the chicken
skewers.
you continue to cook it until
desired texture is reached
(usually takes 30 seconds to
1 minute)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 7 minutes
Yields: 2 cups sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons light butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons capers,
mashed
½ cup white wine
¼ cup lemon juice or juice
of ½ lemon
1 cup fat free sour cream
½ cup sundried tomatoes,
chopped (optional)
½ teaspoon salt and pepper
Heat a medium non stick
pan in medium to high heat; 1
minute.
Add oil and butter and
allow it to cook and melt the
butter, 30 seconds.
Add garlic and capers and
cook for about 30 seconds to a
minute.
Add wine and cook for
another minute to boil off the
alcohol.
Add lemon juice, and whisk
in the sour cream. Continue to
whisk until the cream combines
with the rest of the liquid completely.
Add sundried tomatoes,
salt and pepper.
Turn off the stove. Transfer
sauce into a small gravy boat.
Serve on the side with the
lechong manok.
Set oven rack to center of the
oven and pre heat oven to 300 F.
Season pork generously with
salt and pepper. Place pork in
a large dutch oven or a baking
dish. Add the remaining ingredients. Cover tightly with aluminum
foil and bake for 5 hours. Remove from the oven and uncover.
Remove pork and place in a platter. Cover and rest while working
on the sauce. Remove carrots
and celery from the pan as well
and transfer into a separate bowl.
Meanwhile strain the cooking
liquid. Place cooking liquid in a
container and freeze for about 15
minutes or longer. This process
would separate the fat from the
cooking liquid. Remove fat.
Meanwhile, puree carrots
and celery using a blender with
a little bit of the cooled strained
cooking liquid. Add pureed
vegetables to the reserved
cooking liquid. Place liquid in
a medium sauce pan. Bring to
boil and reduce to half about 20
minutes. Stir occasionally. Taste.
Add more sugar and season
more with salt and pepper if
desired.
To serve – cut pork shoulder
into big chunks and drizzle sauce
on top and around.
Pandan Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Yields: 2 pies
Pandan cream
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup heavy cream
½ cup whole milk
3 egg yolks
3 tablespoons pandan flavor
3 tablespoons cold butter, cut
into cubes
2 pieces store bought frozen
pie crusts
printed at the label of the crusts.
Please follow the instruction on
“pre baking”. Usually it asks you
to pre heat oven to 400F and
thaw frozen crust before pre baking it. It also ask you to prick the
bottom of the crusts to prevent
from puffing up when baking.
Pre baking takes anywhere from
10 to 14 minutes until crusts are
slightly brown.
While crusts are pre baking,
make your banana cream.
Peanut butter cream
1 small container of cream
cheese (8oz), room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup chilled heavy cream
3 ripe bananas, peeled and
sliced thinly
Combine cream cheese,
sugar and peanut butter in a
bowl. Using a hand held or a
stand mixer, combine and whisk
Adjust oven rack to the center until smooth. Remove from the
of the oven and pre heat to 400 F. bowl and set aside. In a clean
In a medium sauce pan, com- bowl, beat heavy cream for about
bine the first seven ingredients
2 minutes until stiff. Slowly fold
except butter and whisk well
the cream into the peanut butter
making sure there are no lumps. mixture. Do not over mix because
Cook over medium heat for five you will lose the volume.
minutes. Whisk non-stop until
the sauce thickens. Add butter
To assemble:
and whisk some more until butSpread pandan filling at the
ter has melted with the mixture. surface of the cooled crusts. Add
This is your Pandan cream. Set
the banana slices after. Then top
aside.
with peanut butter cream. Use a
Pre bake your store bought
cake spatula to even the surface
pie crusts. When done, remove
on top. Chill for 3 hours or overfrom the oven and cool down.
night. Slice and serve.
You can buy frozen pie crusts
For garnish, you can top it
at the frozen section of your
with whipped cream, diced caragrocery stores. Pre bake pie
melized ripe bananas and mint
crusts. Baking instruction is always leaves.
11/16/10 6:21:55 PM