The Lipa Institute of Culinary Arts (LICA) sponsored a Pasta Cooking Demo with Mr. Paul Campos as guest chef last May 23, 2008 at the LICA Cooking Demo Room.

Br. Manuel Pajarillo FSC, LICA faculty and students, Chez Rafael Staff and Mr. Campos’ relatives witnessed his demonstration of two pasta dishes, which were economical, easy to cook, and with readily accessible ingredients. Mr. Campos was assisted by Student Chef Raymond Bautista.

The first dish, “Spaghetti Ala Vongole,” favored seafood lovers with clams as toppings in this culinary masterpiece. The thick sauce is a mixture of white wine, olive oil, onion, garlic, parsley, chili flakes and the boiled clam liquid. This recipe indeed gave a twist in the usual red and white spaghetti sauces.

The second dish, “Spaghetti Alio E Olio” is much easier to prepare that made use of garlic and olive oil as mother sauce. Chicken broth and roux (a mixture of flour and mashed butter) thickened the sauce. Anchovy fillets could replace the fresh parmesan as toppings to this recipe.

Chef Campos constantly reminds LICA students to try dining in different places to learn new recipes and to discover food varieties. This, according to him, is undeniably much better than simply reading from recipe books.

Mr. Paul Campos is a Minor in HRM graduate from Shiller University in Heidelberg, Germany and worked for a year at Scuola de Cucina in Perugia, Italy. He also worked as an assistant of Ms. Lorie Reynoso, of the famed Reynoso Culinary Family. He is the currently the only male and Asian Chef Instructor of New York Restaurant School.