Burnt Lumpia: Filipino Food | Filipino Recipes | Culinary Hijinks

Purple Yam Gnocchi

Pablo Picasso had his Blue Period, and I guess for me, the last couple of weeks have been my Purple Period. Luckily however, my monochromatic muse was not inspired by someone's suicide or large quantities of absinthe.

Unlike Ol' Pablo, my inspiration came on much happier terms. Using the purple Ube yam of the Philippines, I have made Purple Ube Pancakes, Ube Ice Cream, and now, Purple Yam Gnocchi.

(On second thought, maybe absinthe did play a role in these seemingly odd creations of mine.)

Anyhoo, whether I was lucid or not is besides the point people! I have come to the conclusion that Ube is a very versatile ingredient--lending its mildly sweet flavors to desserts and savory dishes alike.  That’s right. Savory! (Egads man, he has lost his mind!)

For my latest (I’ve purposefully delayed posting this so as not to oversaturate your eyeballs with violet visions) and probably last (I'm all purpled out) Ube recipe, I used a couple of purple yams that I found at my Asian grocery store.

Flowers for Longanisa

Sometimes food can become a bit too complex. Now, there's nothing wrong with complex, some of the stuff I've made up on this blog has been a bit difficult, but sometimes it all gets a bit tiresome.  Standing in my kitchen over a long-simmering pot, or separating a handful of eggs, or prepping the last of a gajillion and one ingredients--that all starts to wear on me after a while.  So every now and then, it's good to revert back to simpler recipes and simpler techniques to keep me from going crazy.  And by simpler, I mean using leftovers.

I've got enough homemade Longanisa in my freezer to stretch from here to Manila and back, and I've been wanting to deplete that supply so that it only reaches Hawaii.  That's a lot of Longanisa to use up. Luckily, this fried squash blossoms post by Wandering Chopsticks set off one of those flickering lightbulb thingies above my head.  Except, instead of stuffing squash blossoms full of minced shrimp, like Wandering Chopsticks did, I figured I'd use some of the Longanisa in my freezer.

And, as we are in the last throes of summer here in SoCal, I wanted to make sure I took advantage of the squash blossoms at the local farmer's markets before they were all gone.

Street Cred and Shameless Self-Promotion

If I were a struggling rap artist (Big Marv) trying to sell my mixtape ("Ready to Fry: The Burnt Lumpia Chronicles") out of the trunk of my rusted-out car (it really is starting to rust, it's awesome), I'd probably try and peddle my mixtape to you like this:

*****

Hey man, you like hip-hop? You wanna buy my mixtape? It's got some dope tracks on it. For real. The crew over at Serious Eats bob their heads to my joints on Irradiated Mangoes and Purple Pancakes.

Wait, where you going? OK, I know those are oldies, but they're still goodies! Wait! Hold on, don't walk away yet. I got some newer ish and its burnin' up the streets! Sick beats! Sick beats!

Not only did homedude David Lebovitz stop by the studio to give me some input on my Ube Ice Cream track, he hipped his own peeps on me over at his place. His pastry chef skillz are world-wide son! DL is a cookbook author extraordinaire! He's legit son!

OK, wait, wait, wait! Hold up a second speedy! Give one more listen. Even the Epicurious gang is up on me kid! That shorty Amy Sherman dropped some jewels about my entire mixtape! She's hip to the game homie! You should be too!

Ready to Fry: The Burnt Lumpia Chronicles is only $9.99! And I'll even throw in a free bag of frozen lumpia! It's a rap! Or should I say, it's SARAP! Turn my headphones up!

*****

Aaaaannnnd scene.

Alas, I'm not a struggling rap artist and I'm not pushing a mixtape.  I'm just a lowly food blogger, and I've got as much street cred as, well, a lowly food blogger. But I do honestly appreciate all the inexplicable love I seem to be getting. Thanks for the props everyone.

Word.

**UPDATE**

After reading this entry, my little brother stayed up all night to work on the pic that now appears on the top of this post.  It's his rendering of what my CD cover would look like.  Yeah, that's pretty much what I had in mind.  Notice the "Parental Advisory" sticker.  That's because I'm hardcore.  I only wish I had dropped my album on Tuesday. I would have totally outsold Fifty and Kanye combined. Or maybe not.

Hits From the Pasalubong

Pasalubong is a Tagalog word that generally refers to gifts and souvenirs one gives out upon arriving/returning to/from another place.  More specifically, and perhaps more appreciated, is Pasalubong of various food items from wherever you traveled.

Luckily for me, one of my many cousins from the Philippines is visiting the States for the very first time and she arrived at my parents' house bearing many food gifts.  Although it's been a few years since I saw my cousin when I last traveled to the 'Peens, our conversation upon her recent arrival went something like this:

Me: Hey cuz! Nice to see you again! How was your trip!

Cuz: Hi! The plane ride was very long and...

Me: Hey that's great, what's that you got there?  Looks like you brought some goodies!

Family relations are not my strong suit.

But I do like to eat! And I'm sure my cousin understood my curtness with her as she happily opened up her luggage and extracted what seemed to be a never-ending stream of Filipino eats.  Don't worry, we eventually had a civil conversation as soon as I stuffed my face with some of the sweets she brought.  And besides, she's going to be here for a month, there's plenty of time for us to catch up and for me to corrupt her sensible Pinoy tastebuds with the zany, bastardized concoctions I've created.

Until then, here's a rundown of the Pasalubong I was able to steal given from my parents:

blUBErry Ice Cream (Ube Ice Cream Swirled with Blueberry Sauce)

In spite of what my spellchecker says, you can't spell blUBErry without Ube.

It's true.

And ever since my Purple Ube Pancakes post, I've been wanting to pair Ube and blueberries in an ice cream (blueberry pancakes + Ube pancakes = blUBErry ice cream, my mind works in strange ways).  I knew the tart sweetness of blueberries would pair well with sweet purple yam, I just didn't know how I was going to pull it off.  I had never made Ube ice cream, a favorite among Filipinos, so I knew I had to start there and worry about the blueberries later.

But, as I would discover, churning out a batch of Ube ice cream would be more difficult than just dumping a cup of frozen Ube into a vanilla base (under no circumstances should you try that, you will curse the heavens and everything around you. Damn you frozen purple yam! Damn you straight to hell!!!).

Ahem.  Uh, after two hacks at creating terribly icy and gritty ice creams, I think I hit one out of the park on my third try.  A couple pounds of Ube, a few quarts of cream, and a couple hundred curse words later, I was able to figure out three tricks for churning rich and smooth Ube Ice Cream.  And lucky you, dear reader, I'm going to share them with you here.