Not renowned father-and-son chefs Gene and Gino Gonzalez

Father-and-son chefs Gene and Gino Gonzalez

"That's not true!" protests the venerable chef Gene Gonzalez, an institution in Philippine cookery.

He objects to the frequent complaint that Filipino food is un-aesthetically all brown. "That's what we're going to do today. We're going to prove that Filipino food is not all brown."

Gene is the inventor of the Ube Vichyssoise, a version of the cold French soup that recruits the indigenous tuber to make it a lovely lavender. But it's not just in modern chefs' interventions that Filipino food has color, Gene insists.

The meal begins with a roast bell pepper puto with a delightfully clever dinuguan sausage.

Dinuguan sausage

The dinuguan sausage, a glemaning black is served with a puto colored jewel-tone orange. It is made by mixing roast red bell pepper with fermented galapong.

Next, Gino is doing a Filipinozed version of a signature pasta dish of his restaurant Buenisimo. The main course is asadong kalabaw. The huge slabs of ribs braised fro this dish are a vivid orange-amber from achuete.

For dessert, Gene serves something he concocted recently, a jamon ice cream. Absurd as it may sound, it is delicious, if a little wicked.

Jamon ice cream with ensaymada

For the full story and the recipes, check out the latest issue of Metro Home & Entertaining. Digital Edition available on Zinio and on the iTunes App Store.