Longganisa and egg breakfast, a new twist

November 19, 2009 • Hello. I am currently out of the country and unable to respond to comments and e-mails. Rest assured, however, that future posts have been scheduled so new recipes will go live almost everyday during my absence. I'll be back soon with lots of stories and photos. Ciao for now! ~ Connie

After posting my very cheesy lasagna with meat sauce recipe, I received an e-mail from a reader who called the inclusion of chopped chorizo in my meat sauce “divinely inspired.” Well, I don’t know about divine but, yes, I have to admit that adding chorizo to meat sauce is a great trick to make it really burst with flavor. She lamented that imported chorizo is quite expensive and ended with the wish that “if only we have locally made chorizos…” which I could almost imagine her uttering with a sigh.

longganisa

Chorizo is a sausage. And we have a lot of local sausages. A LOT. We just know them by another name. Longganisa. And longganisa is flavored with indigenous spices just as the Spanish chorizos are. It just so happens that indigenous spices differ from one continent to another.

In regions of the Philippines were Chavacano is spoken, it is not unusual to hear sausages referred to as “tsoriso.” Hop from one region to another, from north to south, and you’ll find that each region has a distinct way of flavoring their longganisa. Vigan longganisa is garlicky; so is the Lucban longganisa which is smaller and more reddish. There is the sweet longganisa popularly called hamonado and there is the batotoy which entered the Filipino pop culture dictionary after the success of the Judy Ann Santos-Ryan Agoncillo movies about newlyweds with meddling in-laws from both sides.

The thing about longganisa is how we look at it as something that can only be fried and served with eggs and rice. And we sigh a little hopelessly when we come across a recipe that requires chorizo which, undoubtedly, is something a bit pricey for everyday cooking. But you know what? You can substitute the garlicky varieties of longganisa for Spanish chorizo in some recipes. Not all because you can’t slice longganisa without crumbling unlike the cured and dried Spanish chorizos which, after slicing and stewing, still retain their shape.

But for recipes that simply require sausage meat, think longganisa. For instance, about two years ago, I made meatballs using longganisa meat (I discarded the casings) and served them on top of spaghetti. They were delicious! And, just recently, I baked longganisa meat with spinach, bread and eggs.

longganisa-egg-cheese-a

Topped with cheese, if you can imagine it. You can’t? Okay, let me give you the recipe.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

8 pcs. of garlicky longganisa, casings removed
2 to 4 day-old pan de sal (depending on how large they are), cut into small pieces, or 2 c. of cold cooked rice
4 fresh button mushrooms, finely sliced
a generous bunch of spinach, blanched for 5 minutes in boiling water, drained and excess water squeezed out, then finely sliced
1 onion, finely sliced
4 eggs
cheese slices, as much as you like
butter, for greasing

Grease the bottom and sides of four ramekins (one cup capacity). Divide the bread (or rice) among them, pressing down to make the bread (or rice) compact.

Crumble the longganisa meat and cook, with no added oil, in a non-stick pan. When the meat changes color, add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds. Add the sliced onion and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the sliced spinach. Cook over high heat until the mixture is almost dry, about five minutes. Adding salt and pepper is optional since the longganisa meat is already very highly seasoned.

Divide the mixture among the four ramekins. Crack an egg over each and top with cheese slices (I used Monterey Jack but I bet that local kesong puti would be even better). Bake in a 425oF oven for seven to ten minutes or just until the egg whites are set but the yolks are still soft. The cheese would be melted by that time.

Serve at once.

longganisa-egg-cheese-b

And when you eat it, make sure that you get some of the runny egg yolk with each tablespoonful for maximum effect. Enjoy!

Below, the clickable thumbnails of the step-by-step version of the recipe.

September 24, 2009  Print This Post   
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Comments

8 Responses to “Longganisa and egg breakfast, a new twist”
  1. Ben says:
    September 24, 2009 at 7:07 pm

    Sounds delicious, and I like the story behind it.

    Reply
  2. ruth says:
    September 24, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    Meron yata tayong mental telepathic connection. I just finished mixing a big batch of your skinless longganisa recipe when this posting came out. My son is missing homecooking so bad so he went to the Asian store and found some frozen longganisa but later complained how expensive they are($4. for 8 pieces). So i told him i will have some ready when he comes home in 3 weeks. At the sane time, daughter is here requesting for the spinach and mushroom quiche i baked 2 weeks ago. Now she will get a new dish-longganisa mushroom and spinach quiche. Multiple birds in one stone. Thanks for coming up with these great ideas.

    Reply
  3. PATRICIA says:
    September 25, 2009 at 12:15 am

    this looks like another winner, instead of the usual longsilog. the kids will love this. will try this come sunday and i’ll use kesong puti instead. thanks again for another great but easy recipe.

    Reply
  4. peterb says:
    September 25, 2009 at 9:31 am

    Deviating and coming up with something totally delicious is the best! I’m not a morning person, but i’d get up just to have that! I can always go back to sleep. ;)

    Reply
  5. Cris Jose says:
    September 25, 2009 at 10:00 am

    Hi, Ms. Connie! What can I say? Another easy dish to prepare. At least there’s vegetable in it. Although I’m an avowed meat eater sometimes namimiss ko rin kumain ng gulay… :)

    Reply
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