10 October

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October 6, 2025

Tallarin Saltado

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Tallarin Saltado

October 6: National Noodle Day

We were part of a nine-member U.S. delegation on a goodwill trip to Peru one year to support a friend’s family foundation whose mission is to provide charitable relief to underserved and impoverished villagers. We assisted in building pre-fab homes/wooden shelters for those living in dangerous makeshift conditions, cleaned and stocked the free clinic shelves with medicine and painted the slides and swing sets at an inner city playground to make it safe for the poor children. It felt great to help those less fortunate than us!

Foundation organizers arranged our modest lodgings and made sure us volunteers could also taste authentic Peruvian food, some cooked and donated by their grateful relatives who appreciated our help and hard work. There were so many delicious dishes but one that we really liked is tallarin saltado, a beef noodle stir fry. We like it so much that we often make this for our birthday meals because the noodles symbolize long life. Tallarin saltado was influenced by the Chinese laborers who immigrated to Peru during the late 19th-early 20th centuries; this Peruvian-Chinese culinary style is called chifa. 

For a flavorful fusion food on National Noodle Day, try tallarin saltado. 

Recipe

(Adapted from Guillermo L.)

Ingredients

  • ½ pound pasta noodles (spaghetti), cooked
  • Vegetable oil
  • 1 pound beef/steak, cut into thin strips
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 red onion, sliced into wedges then slivers
  • 2 stalks green onion/scallions, green parts only, sliced into 2-inch pieces (reserve some to garnish)
  • 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
  • 1 teaspooon aji amarillo paste
  • 2 roma tomatoes, sliced into wedges
  • 1 orange or red bell pepper, de-seeded and sliced into slivers
  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Chopped cilantro to garnish

Directions

Cook noodles al dente, drain and set aside. Mince the garlic, grate the ginger and slice the red and green onions, tomatoes and bell pepper.

Heat a little oil in a large skillet and sauté the beef until browned. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. In the same skillet, stir-fry the garlic, red and green onions and ginger till fragrant (about a minute). Stir in the aji Amarillo paste. Add the tomatoes and bell pepper and saute gently for another minute.

Gently stir in the noodles. Mix in the soy sauce, oyster sauce, red wine vinegar and sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dish out and garnish with chopped cilantro leaves. Serve hot.

Notes

  • We used beef steak strips, but chicken (pollo) pieces could be used in this recipe as well. Adjust the cooking time for the latter.
  • Search for more noodle recipes under the Theme Menus for Oodles of Noodles.

 

September 1, 2025

Dutch Apple Pie

Posted by HI Cookery under 09 September, 10 October, 11 November | Tags: , , , |
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Dutch Apple Pie

September/October/November: National Apple Months

Washington State is famous for its apples. We pass by several apple orchards while visiting Highlander’s relatives who live there. His niece and Islander’s brother are alumni of Washington State University, and our goddaughter Mia A. currently resides in Seattle. We never got a chance to pick apples at the orchards there, though.

When we make our apple pies at home, we just pick our apples from the grocery store bins. Most are imported from Washington anyway. It is more labor intensive to cut up the apples, but we prefer it over the canned fruit for our pies (however, we sometimes cheat on the recipe by using frozen, store-bought crust, too). 

As apples are celebrated for three months in the fall, this was a great excuse to make Dutch apple pie (also known as apple crumb pie) often—besides, apple and cherry pies are Highlander’s favorites. 

This is not a pie recipe from the Netherlands, but the word Dutch is derived from Deutsch, which is German. It is the streusel (crumb) topping that was inspired by German desserts that make this pie uniquely delicious. Make the most of National Apple Months and try Dutch apple pie!

Recipe

(Adapted from Pillsbury and Southern Living)

For the streusel topping

  • 1 cup flour, all purpose
  • 2/3 cup pecans, chopped
  • ½ cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 tablespoons sugar, granulated white
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick (½ cup / 8 tablespoons) butter, unsalted and melted

For the apple pie

  • 5-6 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced/chopped
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup sugar, granulated white
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Pinch ground nutmeg
  • Pinch ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 deep dish frozen pie crust

Directions

Prepare the streusel/crumb topping first by mixing in a large bowl the flour, pecans, brown and white sugars and cinnamon.

Stir in the salt and melted butter. Mix until the topping resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside to make the pie filling.

Core, peel and slice/chop the apples. Place in a large bowl and toss in the lemon juice to prevent the apples from browning. Add the sugar and cornstarch.

Sprinkle in the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Mix well and mound the filling and juices into the frozen pie crust.

Press the streusel/crumb topping over the apples. The filling will sink in the center when baking so it will be flattened out. Place the pie crust on a baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes. Loosely place a piece of foil over the topping to prevent from burning and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set the pie over a wire rack to cool completely and allow the flavors to gel. Slice into wedges and serve.

Notes

  • Make sure the filling has set before slicing or it will be too runny.
  • Place a pie crust shield or foil pieces on the rim of the pie to prevent overbrowning of the crust (optional).
  • Search our blog for other apple recipes.
 

October 31, 2024

Pumpkin Soup

Posted by HI Cookery under 10 October | Tags: , , |
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Pumpkin Soup

October 31: Halloween

Halloween night is always a busy time. But we always want to have something festive to make and eat for dinner before taking the “kids” (Islander’s senior citizen parents) out for trick-or-treating a look around our neighborhood where the homes go all out with decorations.

This pumpkin soup is easy to make and, when served with buns or bread, can be a quick and simple meal to feed our little family for the fun night around the neighborhood. It is a healthy choice and not a heavy dinner to weigh us down while walking and enjoying the sights. The ingredients are full of fall flavors: apples, warming spices and, of course, pumpkin!

And inspired by the houses we see, we add an EXTRA decoration to our soup—instead of a dollop of sour “scream”, we drizzle concentric circles on top and use a toothpick to pull out a spider web design.

Serve up some spooky spiced pumpkin soup for a simple Halloween meal.

Recipe

(Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod)

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 apple, peeled, cored, seeded and chopped
  • 1-2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 can (29 ounces) pumpkin puree
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • 1/8 ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • Sour cream, optional garnish

Directions

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Saute the onions and apples for around 5 minutes or until softened. Add the minced garlic and continue sauteing until fragrant. Add the bay leaf.

Pour in the pumpkin puree. Season with salt and pepper. Add the spices (nutmeg, paprika, cloves and cinnamon). Stir in the vegetable broth. 

Mix and lower heat to simmer for 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Transfer to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend until liquefied. Pour soup back into the pot. Stir in the heavy cream and maple syrup.

Ladle into bowls and serve hot. For the optional spider web decoration, fill a piping bag with sour cream and draw concentric circles on the soup. Use a toothpick to pull outward designs. Garnish with a toy spider (remove before eating). Store cooled soup in containers.

Notes

  • Thanks to our friend Karen B. who gave us the Two Peas and Their Pod cookbook. Culinary and cake club members often referred to Islander and Karen as two peas in a pod because they played/worked so well together in their pods (kitchens).
  • Heavy cream may be substituted for coconut milk in this recipe.
  • If not decorating with a sour cream spider web design, sprinkle toasted pumpkin seeds on the soup.
  • Try another spiced pumpkin soup recipe that we made for National Pumpkin Day on October 26.
  • Search our blog for more Halloween recipes.
 

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