San Miguel Pure Foods kitchen recently invited some members of media to a one-on-one cooking class with celebrity chef Ed Quimson.

Chef Ed, who has worked at prestigious establishments such as La Tasca, Via Mare, The Nielsen Tower, the Member’s Lounge of the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Subic Yacht Club, guided novices and weekend cooks on the finer aspects of cooking.

One of the guests was  Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Corrie Narisma who said she learned to cook a bit from her mother. But everything else she knows about preparing her family’s weekend meals was acquired by instinct.

An occasional cook—she confesses to cooking at home only on her days off—she counts sukiyaki and daktoritang, a spicy Korean dish of chicken and potatoes, as her specialties. She can also manage preparing regular Pinoy fare, such as nilaga, ginisang munggo, caldereta and mechado.

“When I was invited to a one-on-one class with chef Ed Quimson at the San Miguel Pure Foods kitchen, I was a bit scared of the whole thing,” she said. “I even took my son, Martin Paolo, a DLSU-CSB student taking up Hotel Restaurant & Institution Management, along, for moral support. But the San Miguel Pure Foods kitchen was so much like home—well, not my home but an experienced chef’s kitchen. The fact that everyone was so welcoming made me immediately feel right at home.”

The San Miguel Great Food Club’s “My Sunday’s Best Recipe Contest” is now on its final stretch. Visit www.mygreatfood.com to vote for favorite recipe entries. Contestants who submitted the five videos that will get the highest number of votes will compete in a final cook-off on Sept. 17, 2 p.m., at the San Miguel Head Office complex, Ortigas Center, which will see them preparing their dishes in person. Special guest is chef Rob Pengson.

The winner will receive P25,000 in cash and P5,000 worth of San Miguel Pure Foods products and gift packs from sponsors

For details, visit www.mygreatfood.com.

Recipe courtesy of chef Ed Quimson

ARROZ CON POLLO

1/2 cup Magnolia Nutri Oil

250 gram  green bell pepper chopped

200 gram  chopped celery chopped

200 gram  white onion chopped

200 gram  chopped tomato

60 gram  chopped garlic

1 whole  Magnolia Free Range Chicken, cut up into 10 pcs

2 cup   rice, dinorado

3 cup   concentrated chicken stock

1 tbsp   salt rock

1 tbsp   cracked pepper

In a 12” fry pan, sauté the green bell peppers, celery, onions, tomato and garlic in the oil in three-minute intervals. Add the chicken pieces and sauté for a few minutes. Add the rice, salt and stock one cup at a time in intervals of two minutes. Season with cracked pepper and cover mixture with foil. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 minutes.

For the sauce:

400 gram  roasted bell pepper

1 cup   Magnolia All Purpose Cream

1/2 tsp  sugar

salt to taste

225 gram  Magnolia Quickmelt Cheese

Blend roasted bell pepper and all-purpose cream. Add the sugar and salt to taste. Pour mixture into a small sauce pot and cook over low heat. Add the cheese and stir until cheese has melted.

To assemble: remove foil and drizzle the sauce over the free range chicken rice and serve. Makes eight servings.