Quarantine Cooking: Seafood Salad and Seafood City

Still on my mission to re-live the flavors of my childhood, I went to Seafood City, a Filipino supermarket in South San Francisco to cook my next childhood memory, Monggo. While assessing what was already in fridge and pantry, I discovered leftover green salad from a dinner a couple nights ago, half an avocado, a hard boiled egg and the fake crabmeat I bought months ago. I didn't worry about the expiration date as I hadn't opened the seal. I took out some shrimp to defrost not only for my mung bean stew, but also for my salad. I loved Thousand Island dressing as a kid, but as an adult I know better than to buy a bottle. It's so easy to make--just whisk mayo, ketchup or cocktail sauce, a little bit of sweet relish, and horseradish--and voila the perfect dressing for a poor man's Seafood Louie salad.

A seafood Louie salad even with fake crab meat, never mind real crab or lobster, is up there with the Cobb as a favorite salad. 

Onward to Seafood City which hearkened to my hometown Filipino strip mall, complete with Chow King, Goldilocks and Valerio's Bakery. I debated whether to buy malunggay leaves, but alas no, I was resigned to use the spinach I already had at home. I spied the vegetables below. Oh my, these would have been perfect if I were cooking pinakbet though ampalaya or bitter melon is not my favorite vegetable though I'm interested in acquiring a taste for it.

And the pre-packaged vegetables below I know would be perfect for sinigang though I've never eaten kabocha squash in my dad's savory sour soup. Next trip.

Once home, I launched into the boneless pork shoulder, cut into big chunks rather than small bits, and seared and braised it.

I had also found this package during my may pantry forage.

On reading the packet's directions, I discovered this wasn't a seasoning for homemade monggo--you merely had to add meat and broth and greens for a ready made bowl.  Aaargh. I then decided to just extend my mung bean stew to make for 9 servings instead of 1. My pack of split beans indicated it would make 8 servings.

I also bought spinach as a vegetable add-on. 

 And my favorite childhood Filipino favorite vegetable of patola, a sponge gourd.

And dug out this library book I had checked out before the pandemic. 

And re-read the narrative memoir as well as the directions which did not call for bagoong. Huh?

To the still boiling pork, I added the parboiled mung beans.

I pulled out my jar of bagoong. Opened it. Sniffed it. Wasn't as pungent as I remembered as a child.

I got another pot going and sauteed the minced onion and then added the minced garlic after softening for 5 minutes in the hot oil. 

I continued sauteeing the aromatics to further soften and added a tablespoon of bagoong and sauteed for some more minutes.

And then added the sauteed onions and garlic and bagoong and chopped tomatoes the boiling pot of pork and mung beans.

Took out precooked frozen shrimp. And got my vegetables ready for the last minutes of cooking.

And let my monggo simmer and stew and poured myself a glass of wine.

I don't think I even ate Monggo for dinner that night. I think I just packed up servings for my neighbors and ate leftover pizza with hubs later. But a couple nights later, I cooked more jasmine rice and added spinach leaves to leftover Monggo, which according to my friend, Roseann tastes better, and microwaved it and enjoyed every bite.