For the Gonzales family, eating is not just for nourishment but it is also a tradition. I spent summers in my Lola’s kitchen writing down recipes that she had either created herself, or tweaked to her liking.
Lola was Benita Sabalvaro Gonzales, married to Amador Laurel Gonzales. They had nine children, and my dad was second to the eldest. Our Lola spent all her days in the kitchen, and did it so glamorously too. She was never frumpy and always dressed to the nines. One would never think she was raising nine children then. That was why we called her “Lola Beauty”. I have kept all her recipes, now on yellowed pages.
Benita Sabalvaro Gonzales, our “Lola Beauty,” in a portrait taken in 1941 when she was 16. She created everything from scratch in the kitchen, including ketchup.
Caesar’s salad recipe from the yellowed pages of Lola’s recipe book
She was always so creative, making everything from scratch, including her home-made ketchup. (Seriously, who makes their own ketchup?) She is my inspiration in creating something new always. So for last weekend’s fare, I created a new dish with my mom—this squid ink lasagna in seafood cream sauce.
We imagined how we want it to taste—creamy and rich. So we used our seafood chowder recipe and created a cream-based pasta sauce and added squid ink to my home-made pasta recipe. It turned out to be last weekend’s winning dish during my niece’s christening.
We also served osso buco with gremolata, Russian potato salad, Caesar’s salad, crown roast with fried rice, baked salmon with roasted vegetable, chicken galantina, and her truly unrivalled sans rival. My tita said, they all look like entrées from my Lola’s parties. The ultimate compliment.
Ingredients
- 2 TBSP squid ink paste
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup 00 flour (or all-purpose flour)
- 1 cup semolina flour
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- a pinch of salt
Seafood cream sauce
- 1 lb shelled shrimps
- 1 lb shelled mussels
- 1/4 lb crab meat (or 8 pieces crab sticks)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 pc medium onion
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup chopped spring onions
- 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
- salt + pepper to taste
- parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, ricotta or feta for toppings
Directions
- Mix 2 TBSP of squid ink paste with eggs
- Comibine with 00 flour and semolina flour, olive oil and a pinch of salt
- Mix using a stand mixer (or knead by hand) until it forms a smooth dough
- Rest the dough for 30 minutes
- Cut the dough in 8 pieces
- Roll each dough in a pasta roller (or by hand using a rolling pin)
- Air dry for 30 minutes
- Assemble with the sauce on a baking dish
Seafood cream sauce
- Saute garlic, onions, celery, spring onions in butter
- Mix in the seafood
- Add milk and cream and cook until thick and creamy
- Layer with lasagna sheets on a baking dish
- Top with cheeses: mozzarella, parmesan, ricotta or feta
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350F, or until cheese toppings is golden brown
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