Rufo's

Breakfast fare has become so popular nowadays, short order food stops have mushroomed around the city. Fast food chains, with their unrelenting advertising on TV and billboards, are top-of-mind when it comes to set breakfast meals which contains a cup of rice, a side dish of end and a fried dry viand, usually traditional breakfast fare of tocino (preserved reddish, sweet pork cutlets), longganisa (sweet and spicy sausage) or beef tapa (salted, spiced dried beef).

Rufo's, a smaller food chain serving short-order and all-day breakfast meals, did one better over the bigger fast food chains with their saucier famous tapa.

The Rufo's branch I visited, located in the Ortigas area, was a small air conditioned space sitting beside open air carinderias that cater to the telemarketers, students and office personnel. I was having brunch so the breakfast crowd had ling since gone back to their office cubicles and stuffy classrooms. So when I ordered  the famous tapa, it was served pretty fast.

The meat was tender but the serving was spare. The sauce is similar to adobo took away the distinct saltiness of tapa we are used to. It was also too extended with starch, like adobo-flavored pares (sweet beef stewed) so it left me a bit confused.

I did love the eggs over easy which rounded off the sinangag and tapa combination. Coffee please!

Off Days and Pinoy Pizza

There are some days when things just don't seem to work for you. That day used to always be Monday for me. But now that I've gone freelance, it surprises me that Tuesdays, Wednesday, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and heck, even Sundays can be off-days.

It is  on such days that our tiny kitchen is filled with dirty dishes and leftovers are called lunch. One recent easy to cook snack on my off days is my recently discovered Pinoy Pizza. You can vary the ingredients, depending on what's available. I have put in my recommended alternatives below the recipe.

Pardon me if this intro is short. it is an off day, after all.

Pinoy Pizza

Ingredients:
2 small Frozen Pizza crust
250 gms or 4 packs of Kesong Puti (Cheese from Carabao's Milk), sliced
2 Itlog na Pula (Red Eggs), sliced
1 medium-sized boneless Tinapang Bangus (Smoked Milkfish), crumbled
4-6 pieces of medium-sized native tomatoes, sliced
150 gms Queso de Bola (Edam Cheese), grated

Procedure:

Thaw the frozen pizza crust.
Slice the Kesong Puti into 1/4 inch thick slices. Wipe away any liquid.
Place on top of the crust covering as much crust as possible.
Place the sliced tomatoes on top pf the kesong Puti.
Crumble the Tinapang Bangus and layer on top of the tomatoes.
Add another layer of sliced tomatoes
Sprinkle the grated Queso de Bola generously.

Pre-heat your oven toaster for 10 minutes at 250degrees. Bake the Pizza for 10-15 minutes or until the crust edges get that toasted look or turn dark brown.
Slice and serve.

Alternatives:
For Kesong Puti- Cream Cheese (but if you use this, use the Queso de Bola sparingly)

For Tinapang Bangus- Bottled Spanish Sardines or Tawilis (take out the bones and feel free to sprinkle a little of the oil on top of the Pizza

For Queso de Bola- Cheddar

For Itlog na Pula: Sorry I haven't found a suitable rd egg altenative. What you can do though, is to take out the pizza  5 minutes before it's fully cooked, crack a raw egg on top (you can use quail eggs, too)  and put back the pizza in the oven.

For the frozen Pizza crust- you can use white bread or pan de sal cut in half.

You can also add:
- onion rings (best if marinated in pineapple juice or honeyed calamansi juice for at least 30 minutes
- Pineapple tidbits
- Chili flakes (sprinkle after taking the Pizza out of the oven)