Quesadilla recipe and Asian-inspired pasta, a la Century Corned Tuna

I seem to have gotten mixed reactions from my friends about this new product in the market called corned tuna. The purists say it defiles the sacredness of their favorite corned beef. However, it must be noted that local canned tuna manufacturers have long made variations of Filipino dishes – among them tuna afritada, sisig, Bicol Express, adobo, mechado, to name just a few. The fact that they continue to fill up our supermarket shelves attest to the fact that people flock to them like they would feast on a Jollibee hamburger. Especially people who swear by a strict tuna diet to keep slim.

Despite some scientific findings about tuna having high mercury content, tuna remains one of my favorite food. Tuna lumpia, tuna omelet and most recently, the tuna kimchi chigae are just some of the dishes I cook repeatedly at home. During last Saturday’s Century Tuna Bloggers’ Cook-off, it was time to discover again some kick-ass tuna-based dishes. Imagine scanning the table for 20 or so ingredients and being able to decide right there and then what to cook, based on the short time allotted. Modesty aside, the finished product certainly looked and tasted like something close to gourmet!

So here it is, our group’s recipes. We hope Century Tuna will be able to adapt them in their test kitchens in the future (if they haven’t, that is)

Corned Tuna Quesadilla with Tomato-Pear Salsa
Preparation/cooking time: approximately 20 minutes

Put a piece of flour tortilla on a plate. Sprinkle with grated cheese, and then regular corned tuna. You may use the chili variety if you want it more spicy. Add in diced red and green bell peppers, to add more flavor and color. Top with very thinly sliced pear. Cover filling with another tortilla then press down.

Put the sandwich in a heated nonstick pan and toast until slightly brown. Flip to the other side. Cut into wedges before serving. Serve with tomato-pear salsa.

To prepare salsa: Thinly dice tomatoes, pear, red and green pepper. Season with salt and pepper. Add in a little olive oil, then mix.

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Century Corned Tuna Blogger’s Cook-off: we won!

Bloggers writing about food is one thing, bloggers cooking the food itself in full view of the public is another. So yeah, that’s how I attended one of the most enjoyable blog events ever – the Century Corned Tuna Bloggers’ Cook-Off held last Saturday, Nov. 7 at The Stock Market in the Fort.

The concept was similar to Iron Chef. There was this long table laid out with a variety of ingredients, and the challenge was to come up with any pasta and appetizer dish that would appeal best to a panel of judges, all to be done in 45 minutes! Our finished dishes would be judged based on the following criteria: Plating (20%), Originality (20%), Taste (25%) and the Innovative Use of Century Corned Tuna (35%).

That’s moi with Jane and Erlyn prior to the cooking frenzy. Was so glad to belong to Team B which also consisted of AJ, Arpee and Ohmski. One thing that made us win: our incomparable teamwork!
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