Terrific Tuesdays: A pasta buffet at Afrique's

Now here's a really terrific way to spend your Tuesdays on a high gastronomic note. Afrique's Gourmet Pizza, Pasta and Steaks makes your never ending pasta dreams come true with it's once-a-week, all-day Pasta Buffet. Dubbed as Terrific Tuesdays, Afrique's brings around 25 ingredients for it's patrons to make their own pasta.

Like my mix and match creation yesterday during a post Iloilo Zombie Run meet-up with members of the Iloilo Bloggers Inc. at Afrique's - Robinson's Place. I just threw in everything I saw on the display table - pasta, sauces and a whole lot of ingredients into my plate.

It had four different types of pasta to choose from, (I guess it changes everytime), and we had linguine, fusili, spaghetti and penne that time. Of course I took the most visually appealing and smothered it with sauce. Our choices were Carbonara, Bolognese(?) and Marinara(?), so it was up to us to pair with the ingredients available.

We had a variety of meats to choose from - Spanish Chorizo, bacon bits, ham, sausage, sardines, etc. Then there were caramelized onions, fresh tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, bell peppers, oilves, etc. To top it off of course were cheeses including parmesan. It would be up to you to make some combination that would suit your taste like mine which had sardines and bacon (lol). I had to place each on other side so it wouldn't mix.

I made a big batch for my first plate throwing in all the ingredients I like and it turned out very good. It was as big as a standard pasta order at Afrique's or was even bigger. But to make most out of it, I went for a second plate but i forgot to take a photo because I was eager to try my bacon-sardine concoction.

But here's here's a more edible pasta concoction from a fellow blogger who made this mountain high pasta. Wish this plate was mine ....

It was indeed a very satisfying experience as we concocted different kinds of pasta dishes from the ingredients we like, we can pour as many sauce, put in as many ingredients and top it all off with a lot of cheese - all for PhP125. Now there's no better offer than tha anywhere in Iloilo, as of now.

Photo taken from Afrique's Facebook

So mark every Tuesday as an Afrique's Pasta Buffet Day and indulge in a lot of pasta concoctions at a very very reasonable price. It's actually a steal ...

Terrific Tuesdays is an all day pasta buffet in all Afrique's branches except Jaro. Starting this Sunday, the same pasta buffet will be made available at Afrique's Valeria and Robinson's Place. For more details please visit Afriques on Facebook or their website http://afriquespizza.com/.

Ultimate Ilonggo Favorite: KBL Kadyos, Baboy, Langka

K.B.L. or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka is the ultimate favorite dish of most Ilonggos. It is also one of the most missed native dishes as kadyos and the souring ingredient, batwan , are hard to find when outside of the Ilonggo region. Basically, it is boiled/stewed pork dish owing its "deliciousness" to the combination of the soft and tender pork, the tamed sourness of batwan and the malinamnam na sabaw . One of the "secrets" of the malinamnamn na sabaw , is the fact that the pork, whether just the plain meat or pata (hocks) are first grilled or broiled. This gives the broth a rather smoky taste that makes it more appetizing.. Learn how to make the Ilonggo dish KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, at Langka) with the recipe below. Ingredients 1 kilo Pata (pork hocks) or pork cubes, GRILLED and sliced into bite size pieces 1 unripe Jack fruit, cubed 2 cups pigeon pea (kadyos) 6-8 pieces batwan fruit (or tamarind powder) 1 piece pork broth cube (

An Ilonggo favorite - Valenciana

Found in almost all occasions like fiesta, birthdays, reunions and others, Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in special gatherings at home. A complete " go, grow and glow " dish because it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful, Valenciana is really an " occasional dish ". Here's the recipe for Valenciana

Takway

The gabi (taro) is just one of those plants which is edible from "roots to tops". The most popular of which is the tuber part which is used in a variety of dishes and mostly in combination with coconut milk. Its leaves, of course, is the main ingredient of a Bicol specialty, laing . It is dried then chopped and sauteed with other ingredients including, again, coconut milk. Then there is takway . The local term for its tendrils/runner, that part which is torn between being a stem or a root for it neither grows upwards nor downwards - it grows sideways . Scraped off of its outer skin, takway is often a key ingredient in vegetable dishes like laswa and the gabi tuber with coconut milk and local snails know as bago-ngon . It is also popular when cooked adobo style with guinamos , the local bago-ong . It is very popular in the region that even big supermarkets sell takway in style - cleaned and plastic wrapped in styro with some additions to make it easier to prepare.

Batwan

Ilonggos know batwan or batuan by heart as the fruit is almost endemic to the Western Visayas. Its scientific name is Garcinia binucao, derived from the Tagalog name for the fruit, binukaw. It is a large green fruit with large seeds and its a favorite souring ingredient in most Ilonggo dishes especially KBL or kadyos, baboy, langka and the Ilonggo-style paksiw known as "pinamalhan". It is characterized by a tamed sourness compared to tamarind and kamias . The fruit is sold by pieces or kilo in wet markets and even big grocery stores. Batwan is the preferred souring ingredients for the Ilonggo favorite- KBL. The photo shows boiled batwan with skin and without skin (right) A favorite riddle when we were young - "Among the many fruits in the forest, but one (batuan) is the best. What is it?"

A native (foods) welcome in Guimaras

Even after having breakfast less than an hour that time, we couldn't say no to this lot of native delciacies that welcomed us in Guimaras. First and foremost, Guimaras best known produce is their sweet mango famous almost worldwide. And it comes with it's best partner, ibos. This brown baye-baye variety is made from toasted rice thus giving it a more disctinct flavour compared to it's more "caucasian" cousin. I like the one wrapped in banana leaves compared with the one in plastic for it gives it a more native feel. So when you're in Guimaras, be sure to check out the markets for these native delicacies that can make your trip more gastronomically satisfying.

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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