Vegan caprese-inspired salad

This is an unconventional caprese salad, since it is vegan so it does not contain any cheese, it also includes non-traditional ingredients like onion. I titled it caprese-inspired salad. It is super-garlicky and delicious!

Ingredients:
1 package firm tofu
1 bunch of basil
2 beefsteak tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 red onion
2 TBS sliced kalamata olives
1 TBS imitation bacon bits
1 TSP honey
1 TSP mustard
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 TS Maggi seasoning (if desired for the dressing)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions:
Use the garlic press or chop one clove of garlic very finely, mix it in 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar. Add salt and pepper to the mix.
Chop the tofu in half an inch cubes and put them in a container covered with the garlic-balsamic vinegar. Set aside.

Chop the tomatoes in 1/2 inch squares and basil. Set aside.
Slice the red onion really thin. Set aside.
This is how I prepare the dressing:
Chop very finely or use the garlic press with 2 or 3 cloves of garlic. Mix in the olive oil with approximately 1/2 tsp of salt. Add the mustard and mix until it emulsifies a bit. Then add the honey and keep mixing (I use a fork but if you prefer you can use a whisk). Add the Maggi seasoning, if you want, and finally the balsamic vinegar. Try it for taste and add more oil or vinegar according to your preferences.
Now, the trick to make delicious onion for the salad, onion that is not too strong for eating raw: Add the fine slices to the dressing and cover it all with it. Let stand about 45 minutes to an hour (you can do 15 minutes, but it is less effective). The onion will "cook" with the vinegar. It will leave a delicious flavour in the vinaigrette and it will not be too strong for eating raw.
When it's time to serve, just mix all the ingredients together. Delicious, nutritious, low calorie and vegan. And most importantly... plenty of garlic!

Been very busy

Sorry guys for the lack of posting. I've been really busy doing stuff... summer and all. But I have been cooking and will post recipes soon.

Meanwhile I got an advance copy of The Complete Book of Garlic, by Ted Jordan Meredith. It is, according to their tagline, "a guide for gardeners, growers and serious cooks". I've taken a look and it looks great. It is indeed more a guide for gardeners and growers. And it has no recipes, but some tips on how to use it when cooking. I'll have a more complete review in a few days. All you need to know now is that it is coming out in August and will be available at Amazon and other retailers. And yes, sadly, we Canadians will end up paying more for the same product, it retails for $39.95 in the US and for $45.95 in Canada. That's 15% more in Canada, when at today's rate it should retail at $40.83 in Canada. Shame on publishers, shame!
OK, rant over. Happy garlicking!

White bean salad (ensalada de alubias)

OK, so this recipe has no garlic, but is delicious anyway, and has lots of onion. It is also vegan.
I wanted to make an "ensalda de alubias" like the one I had a long time ago in an Argentinian restaurant called La Taba in Mexico City.

I was looking for alubias, the white beans that is used in Spain to make fabada, apparently they are called fabes in English, but I couldn't find them anywhere. Even at St. Lawrence Market, where there is a guy who has every bean and rice imaginable, when I asked for fabes they wanted to give me fava beans, which are not the same. And when I looked up fabes on the internet it always took me to a generic beans page, so I tried to look for substitutes. I ended up buying baby lima beans. They were good enough.

I soaked 1.5 cups of dry baby lima beans overnight in the fridge.
Then I cooked them in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes with the heart of one celery, 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil, half an onion, 2 cloves of garlic slightly crushed and 3 bay leaves. I let the pressure cooker cool naturally and then I opened it.


Meanwhile I chopped about 3/4 red onion and covered it with the juice of 2 lemons and about 1 teaspoon of sea salt. I did this to marinade the onion and make it less strong for eating.


When the beans were cooked, I removed the celery, the garlic, the bay leaves and the onion and drained the beans keeping about 1/4 cup of the cooking water. I let the beans totally cool (or you can rinse them in cold water as well, but they are delicate and may peel if you do that, I recommend just letting them cool down). I then added the cooking water and beans to the lemon+onion concoction. I then used 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and (here's the secret ingredient) 1 teaspoon powdered dry oregano. Mix everything and add salt and pepper to taste.



The salad was delicious!

Spinach and sundried tomato linguine

I'm still around. I've just been really busy with work and life and stuff... no, no good gossip, nothing new, just busy.

OK, so today I have the recipe for spinach and sundried tomato pasta. This was a delicious recipe I made a couple of weeks ago. I used Catelli Healthy Harvest (whole wheat) Linguine.
Ingredients:
3 cloves of garlic
2 cups chopped fresh plum tomatoes
2 cups chopped sundried tomato (in oil)
Club House Garlic Plus

1/2 a cup chopped Kalamata olives
1 cup fresh basil
3/4 package fresh spinach
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Oregano
Dried cayenne pepper
Linguine

For the sauce:
Chop the garlic and fry it in the olive oil.


Then add the fresh tomato, oregano, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper, as well as the Garlic Plus seasoner. Sautee for a few minutes.


The sundried tomato and olives go now.


Meanwhile, cook the pasta to two-thirds of the time indicated in the package, for example if it says to cook for 8 minutes, cook it for only 5. You want the pasta to be kinda hard.
When the pasta is cooked (sorta), add it to the sauce along with the spinach and the fresh basil. Salt and pepper to taste. Leave it for approximately 2 minutes, covered. The spinach will be wilted but not totally consumed.

Serve in a pasta bowl and enjoy!


(For those of you non-vegans or non-allergic to milk products, you can add some grated parmiggiano here).

Comfort Food, by Kate Jacobs

When I first heard of this book, I thought it was a cooking book, because of the title. But it is a novel, by the same author of The Friday Night Knitting Club. I didn't have a chance to read that book but some of my knitting friends said it was good, so I was glad to have the opportunity to read her next novel.
It is the story of Gus Simpson, the most famous cooking celebrity in the Food Channel. Gus is going through some changes in life and is forced to evaluate who she is and what she has done so far with her life, including her family and her professional life.
It is nice and agreeable read. Jacobs's style is best-selling type, easy to read and entertaining to follow. It has a lot of pop-cultural references and I wonder if she based any of her characters on real people, not that I would know who they are, but sometimes insiders recognize someone they know in this type of books.
The book has really good character development and an easy to follow story. It is in the chick-lit style but I believe it appeals to a wider demographic, from mothers and grandmothers to young women.
I have to confess that I developed a fondness for the characters and I even shed a couple of tears when I was reading their story. I read the whole book in less than a week and I kept looking forward to reading, I wanted to know what would happen to these people.
I really recommend this book as an easy, agreeable read.
Although it talks a lot about food (and a lot about Spanish food, which I looooooove!!) it has no recipes.
Kate Jacobs has a website and a blog.

Derlea garlic products do not disappoint

Last week I got a batch of Derlea garlic products, including Minced Garlic, Garlic & Ginger Puree, Roasted Garlic "Crunch" and Roasted Garlic Puree.

I have to admit that I didn't know what to expect, although I had seen some of the jars at Sobey's on Front St., I had never got them always preferring fresh garlic. But as loyal readers know, I've had problems keeping the garlic, mainly I think my apartment is too humid or something, and it sometimes sprouts or gets soft.
These jarred garlic products came to solve the problem. The minced garlic is just your regular minced garlic but in a quite convenient format. It retails for approximately $2.25 and is worth it if you have the "sprouting garlic" problems I've talked about.

The garlic and ginger puree is good, and convenient for cooking soups or oriental foods. But the roasted garlic..... oh my god, it is fenomenal. The roasted garlic puree was delicious over baked potato wedges (sorry I couldn't take a picture because I accidentally left my camera, and my lunchbag! at work). I just cut the potatoes in wedges (without peeling them), put them in the oven, sprinkled them with a bit of olive oil and roasted garlic puree. They were delicious. I really recommend it.

The roasted garlic crunch was a bit of a mystery, with the name "crunch" I didn't quite understand what it meant. Well, it is basically dehydrated garlic, great to toss over salads, pasta or pizza. I had it over pasta in lieu of parmesan cheese (since as my loyal readers know, I can't have any dairy products), and it added an extra delicious flavour to it. All in all, delicious garlic goodness.

Also, some readers asked me recently how to substitute jarred garlic products for fresh garlic in recipes. Well, The Derlea Foods website actually shows conversion measurements for those interested, for example, 1/2 teaspoon of chopped or minced garlic is equivalent to 1 clove of fresh garlic (more info here).

I still think I'll like to try the garlic with jalapeno product, I've seen it at Sobey's.
(Picture shamefully borrowed from Derlea Foods website).

He said beer, she said wine, by Sam Calagione and Marnie Old

I've been super busy lately and haven't had much time to blog at all. But I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to talk about a great book I got recently: He said beer, she said wine, by Sam Calagione and Marnie Old.
I was really looking forward to this book, especially because it's published by DK which is one of my favourite publishers. I recently wrote about another book that they published, Morimoto. Well, they did not disappoint this time. The book has great pictures and a good amount of text as well, and is a great fun read.
Sam Calagione is the beer guy and Marnie Old is the wine woman. At the beginning of the book they explain who they are and why they are defending beer/wine. Then follows a short history of wine and beer, how they started to be part of culture, and who were the peoples drinking them. They also defend their choice of drink.
I particularly liked the story of wine, how it is produced, the difference between red and white. since I've been trying to learn a bit more about all of it (I am getting there, my readers may remember that I rate Educating Peter by Lettie Teague. Well, I can now distinguish some types of wines, and I now go beyond only knowing that there's red and white). It is very useful to have a reference about wine flavours and what it all means. I especially like the "travel guide" approach, which is not surprising since DK makes so many travel guides. The same approach comes a bit later with an explanation and "guide" to beer.
Later the Food Debate section comes, which explains food pairing for both wine and beer. There are sections for pairings with cheese, veggies, sandwiches, pizza and pasta, spicy food, shellfish, fish, poultry, meat and desserts. Quite interesting to learn about how beer can be paired with some food that are usually associated with wine, and viceversa. The only problem is that I believe it may be difficult to get half of the beers and wines in the book here in Ontario. We are at the mercy of the LCBO, and if they do not bring those wines, I believe we have little choice. Now I know how to do substitutions with yarns, so a similar approach may be useful for the beers and wines presented in the book. Nevertheless it is super interesting and worth a read.
At the end of the book there are a few recipes with suggested pairings of both beer and wine, the idea is to have a few friends or family over and see which drink is preferred with the foods. Lots of fun, indeed.
All in all, this is a great book that I totally enjoyed reading and having. It is a great reference and includes user-friendly and fun information for learning about both beer and wine.

Oh, one extra thing, the retail price for Canada is $28.

Chickpea and spinach curry

Since I don't eat any dairy products or milk ingredients at all, I have been a bit concerned about my calcium intake. What else can I do to consume more calcium. I did some research and it happens that spinach is a really good source of calcium, so I decided to try new spinach recipes, containing garlic, of course. I made up this recipe today. The recipe is vegan.

Chop one whole onion and three cloves of garlic and sautee them in two teaspoons vegetable oil.


When onion is transparent, add three teaspoons of soy sauce, three teaspoons curry powder, the juice of half a lemon and one tablespoon chopped ginger (I used the one that you buy in a jar and is already chopped). Stir well and cook for about five more minutes.


Add one can of chickpeas semi-drained, and one can chopped tomatoes. Let cook for about 10 minutes to absorb all the flavours.


Finally add one bag baby spinach and stir just until wilted (not more than 2 minutes).


Serve with rice, I used basmati and it was delicious!

Pasta with white mushroom sauce

This recipe is vegetarian and vegan.

As many of my readers know, I am allergic to all dairy ingredients. This time I decided to make my own pasta with white sauce, taking special care of not adding any dairy (most people will use cream for a mushroom white sauce), and of course, very garlicky!

Ingredients for 3-4 servings:
Olive oil
One cup shallots, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Crushed red pepper, if desired
All the sherry left in the bottle (OK, I used all the sherry left in the bottle because I didn't have much left, I suggest about 1/2 a cup)
4 to 5 cups chopped mix mushrooms, I used cremini, oyster, shiitake and portobello
Cooked pasta (enough for the number of persons), I used multi-coloured fussilli

Sautee shallots and garlic in the olive oil until brown, be careful not to burn them.


Add the mushrooms and sautee until cooked (about 4 minutes).


Add all the sherry left in the bottle (OK, about 1/2 a cup). Add a teaspoon white flour for thickening the sauce. Also, add salt and pepper to taste and crushed red pepper, if desired. Stir until flour is disolved. Simmer for about 4 minutes making sure it does not dry out.


Serve over cooked pasta.


Delicious!

The real pasta primavera

This dish is so garlicky it's dangerous! This is the authentic pasta primavera from Italy. There's a huge snowstorm in Toronto, so I decided to channel spring by making spaghettini primavera, primavera means spring in Italian and in Spanish. And you don't have to cook anything (except the pasta, raw pasta is not good to eat, you guys!) There's a bit of chopping involved, though.

Ingredients per person:
One cup fresh tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup fresh basil
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
One portion of spaghettini (I used about one inch roundful per person).

Cook the pasta in boiling water, but make sure it's al dente. You don't want soft spaghettini for this. I used Catelli Bistro Sundried Tomato and Basil spaghettini. But you can use just regular pasta. Spaghettini is recommended because it is thin. Capelli D'Angelo also works really good with this recipe.

Finely chop the tomatoes, garlic cloves and basil.

When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain and immediately (don't let the pasta cool), toss with the olive oil and the chopped tomatoes, basil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately. I did not sprinkle with parmesan because, as my regular readers know, I'm allergic to milk products, but everyone else can do this to enjoy this delicious spaghettini primavera.

Vegan rajas

I'm sorry about the lack of posting. I've been around, but not much cooking/posting lately.
Today I have a vegan take into the rajas con crema that I blogged about some time ago.
I used:
4 fresh poblano peppers
Two cloves of garlic
Half to a quarter of a white onion
One small can of corn
Vegetable oil
Salt to taste

The first thing to do is to roast the poblano peppers in the broiler. I cut them in two so I didn't have to turn them around. When they were charred, I put them in a plastic bag to "sweat".


After the peppers are cooled down, peel and devein them.


Slice in "rajas".


Meanwhile, slice onion and garlic and sautee them in the oil until lightly browned but not caramelized.


Add the rajas that, because of the roasting, should be kinda cooked by now, sautee for about 2 minutes and add salt to taste.


Then add the small can of yellow corn. Sautee for another 2 minutes just to make the taste uniform.


That's it! Serve with a side of rice and refried beans. The corn tortilla is for making tacos.


Delicious!

Almost-vegan Thanksgiving dinner

Dinner
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

As loyal readers know, it's been discovered that the milk protein makes me really sick. So now I am on a restricted diet in which I can't have any milk products including butter, cream and cheese. Thanksgiving is a difficult time since almost everything involves a ton of butter. We decided I would cook Thanksgiving dinner for us. I made a delicious vegan carrot soup with a hint of ginger and curry.
This is one of the most delicious soups I ever made.
First I chopped onion and garlic and fried it in olive oil, then I added the carrots and potatoes.Then I added two cups of vegetable bouillon, salt and pepper, one teaspoon curry powder and half a cup of chopped fresh ginger. I let it boil for about 30 minutes and then I pureed it in the blender. It was so delicious.
I also made an applesauce cranberry Jello (that's the only non-vegan thing in the whole menu). I made my own applesauce, with no sugar added.
As a main dish I made baked butternut squash in cashew sauce. It was more difficult than I thought to chop the squash (it was really really difficult). It took about 45 minutes in the oven to be ready.

And as a side I made a "stuffing" with fried onions, garlic and celery and bread crumbs. I baked it for 20 minutes as a roast.
Our vegetarian almost vegan Thanksgiving menu was delicious, but it took so long to make that when I asked James what he was thankful for all he could come up with was "I am thankful that dinner is finally ready". Hah!

Sincronizadas

Sincronizadas
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

This is a delicious and easy Mexican breakfast. All you need for one person is two flour tortillas, cheese and ham.
Heat up the tortillas, add the cheese and the ham to one tortilla, cover with the other tortilla in a sandwich-like manner. Heat until the cheese is melted turning constantly to make sure the tortillas do not burn.

Cut in four triangular pieces. Enjoy your breakfast!

Blue Garlic?

Recently I had an email about green garlic and posted asking my readers if they knew what it caused it and if it had happened to them (here is the link).

Here are some of the responses left in the comments:
I've had it happen when using a first pressed extra vigin olive oil. This oil was a very dark and rich green color so I just assumed it acted like a dye with the white of the garlic.
Julie
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I had that happen last week when I made a garlic/ginger/lime marinade for a pork roast. Didn't use any olive oil though...
sheena
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Garlic turns green or blue green when exposed to acids... it doesn't affect the flavor a bit, but you should consider it for cosmetic purposes when cooking.
beth
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I had my garlic turn greenish-blue when I cooked chicken with 40 cloves...
Vicki
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i was searching re this very thing! glad to see i'm not the only one concerned. making snapper that required roasting tomatoes and garlic in the oven. garlic was good when slicing. when i got it out of the oven, it was green like it was spoiled. i'm going to go enjoy my dinner now that i see it's caused by acids such as tomato juice!
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Now Nancy sent me the following email:

I pickled some kielbasa and the garlic I put in has turned blue. Do you think it is safe to eat or has something gone wrong?

We know from previous responses that garlic turns blueish green, so I would advise Nancy not to be concerned, if the shade of blue her garlic turn was a bit greenish.

Any opinions from Garlicster readers?

Morimoto

I was really excited to receive my pre-release copy of Morimoto, published by DK, DK is one of my favourite publishers, their Eye Witness travel guides are just amazing. I was expecting beautiful pictures and I was not disappointed.
So who is Chef Morimoto and why should I get his book? Masaharu Morimoto is the regular iron chef Japanese in the Iron Chef and Iron Chef America shows. I always have fun watching these shows on the Food Network, and I was curious to see what a book by him could provide.
The book starts with a 2-3 page biography of Chef Morimoto and his career as a chef, this biography was written by JJ Goode (a long-time food writer). It is then divided in several chapters:

• Sashimi and Sushi: Including a description of how to cut fish, clean octopus and clean clams
• Rice, Noodles, Breads and Soups: With several recipes for rice dishes, including my beloved sticky rice in lotus leaves
• Fish and shellfish: With recipes for lobster, crab, shrimp, etc.
• Duck, Chicken, Pork, Beef and Lamb: This is the chapter that seems to be the most "fusion", since it includes a lot of recipes that seem French-ish, and stuff with hot fiery chiles
• Vegetables, Tofu and Eggs: A chapter that I was especially interested in, because of its vegetarian content. It includes a recipe for tempura vegetables. Sadly, a lot of veggie and tofu recipes include some type of meat, or cheese
• A special chapter called Recipes to Contemplate: Which includes an abalone croquette. Curiously, there is a typo on the title and it says "albalone" (page 211).
• Desserts: There is a tofu cheesecake that looks delicious (my readers will have to try it for me and let me know what they think, since I cannot eat any cheese)
• Stocks, Oils, Spices and Sauces: Recipes for different sauces and stocks that are needed for the various recipes in the book

There is not a lot about specific garlic content, there is a Grilled Steak with Garlic-Soy Jus that looks delicious, the garlic-soy jus includes 6 garlic cloves!, fresh ginger, sugar, veal reduction (recipe included in the book), soy sauce, mirin (fortified wine made from glutionous rice and used solely for cooking, according to the glossary), sesame oil and onion. The truth is that it looks delicious! There is a lamb carpaccio that includes "shiso buds" or garlic flowers as garnish, this is such an original way of garnishing that I'm looking forward to trying it. Garlic is included in some other recipes, but not very prominently. It doesn't matter, the recipes are so delicious this is a book worth having. The thing that I liked the most is that it has a kind of "guide" in each chapter describing how to use the ingredients, like how to cook the rice, what dashi is, how tofu is made, etc. All the explanations and most of the recipes are accompanied by step-by-step photos illustrating the process.

This is definitely a book worth getting for reference and as a cook book. The only "but" for me is the same as always, the price is $40 USD but it is $50 CAD. At today's conversion rate it should be about $42 CAD. A 25% markup is too much for us Canadians. I recommend ordering from an American bookstore, like Barnes & Noble, they give you a discount and even with the shipping it's well worth it. (Sorry Canadian retailers, it's not my fault, it's just common sense).
The amazing photography is by Quentin Bacon.

Biga Bread with Garlic

Pacific College Mom sent us another delicious recipe:
This is an adaptation of a one originally appearing in Sunset magazine. It is my absolute favorite bread, chewy and hearty. It takes a little longer to make, but it’s definitely worth the effort!
¾ teaspoon active dry yeast
1 Cup cool tap water
1 teasp sugar or honey
¼ Cup Biga (recipe follows)
2 Tblsp milk
1 Tblsp finely chopped garlic (or rosemary)
¾ teasp regular salt (optional, I omit it)
3 – 3 1/4 Cups flour
½ teasp coarse salt

In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over water and sugar or honey, let yeast dissolve. Add biga, milk, garlic, regular salt, and 2 Cups of flour. Mix well, and then knead in ¾ Cup more flour to create slightly sticky dough. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours until doubled.

Punch down dough and knead briefly. On a floured board, shape dough into a smooth ball. Place on a well floured baking sheet. Cover with plastic and let rise again about an hour, or until springy when lightly touched.

At least 30 minutes before baking, place baking stone or a large baking sheet in the oven and heat oven to 400 degrees. With a sharp knife or razor slash top of dough, sprinkle cut with coarse salt. Mist the dough and walls of oven with spray bottle filled with water. Slide dough onto hot stone or baking pan, bake for about 35 minutes, or until bread is deep golden brown. Cool on rack.

Biga
¼ teasp yeast
½ Cup cool water
1 Cup flour

Sprinkle yeast over water, let dissolve. Add flour, mix well. Cover and chill 24 hours before using. Can be stored in the fridge up to 2 weeks. Makes 1 cup.

Chicken with Double Garlic Black Bean Sauce

Pacific College Mom sent us this delicious recipe. It looks so delicious, I think I'm going to make it this weekend. After all, I'm going to St. Lawrence Market tomorrow to stock up for the long weekend.
Happy Canada Day, everyone!


1 Tablespoon Aji-Mirin (sweet rice wine)
4 Teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce, divided
5 Teaspoons cornstarch, divided
1 Teaspoon sesame oil
2 large chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 Tablespoon Garlic Black Bean sauce
1 Teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 Clove minced garlic
½ Cup chicken broth
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 Pound fresh asparagus spears, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Stalk celery, sliced into 1-inch pieces
1 small onion, diced
3 Tablespoons water (I use water from the pasta)
4 servings (large handful) angel hair pasta


A.) Make a marinade of wine, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons cornstarch and the sesame oil. Add chicken pieces and toss well to coat. Chill for 30 minutes while preparing the veggies.

B.) Mix together black bean sauce with ginger, minced garlic, broth, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, oyster sauce, and remaining 3 teaspoons cornstarch, set aside.

C.) Prepare pasta in salted water, if desired.

D.) Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add chicken with marinade and stir-fry for 3 minutes, or until the chicken is opaque, about 3 minutes. Remove from pan.

E.) Heat 1 tablespoon oil to wok and stir-fry veggies for about 2 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons water to the pan, cover, and cook for another minute.

F.) Return chicken to the wok, add sauce mixture, and cook until sauce thickens. Serve over the pasta.


And for our American readers, Happy Fourth of July too!

Roasted garlic and parsley potatoes

Now that spring is here, the Farmers' Market on the North side of St. Lawrence Market is filling up with better and better delicious goodness. On Saturday I went and bought a lot of veggies. Among the things I bought were potatoes and garlic.
Since I was going to grill some other veggies, I decided to make my special roasted potatoes with garlic and parsley.

Ingredients:
One pint baby potatoes, halved
3 teaspoons olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
Sea salt
Parsley flakes

Prepare a "pocket" with foil and place the halved baby potatoes and the slivered/sliced garlic.
Spread it with the olive oil, sea salt and dehydrated parsley flakes.

Fold the "pocket" and bring it to the barbecue. Grill on high heat for about 20 minutes.
It's that easy. The potatoes were crunchy and garlicky and oily and delicious!

And remember dear Garlicster readers, eating local, is healthier and uses less fuel. Help your local farmers, it is always good to know the person who is growing your food.

I've been so busy

I've been super busy lately and haven't had much time to post. Don't worry my dear Garlicster readers, I have not abandoned the blog.
So, I recently received Educating Peter by Lettie Teague. I like the subtitle in this book "How I taught a Famous Movie Critic the Difference Between Cabernet and Merlot or How Anybody Can Become an (Almost) Instant Wine Expert".
I am excited about starting to read this book, because I am also a bit of a neophyte with respect to wine. OK, I'm not that bad, at least I know that there is red wine, white wine, rosé wine and sparkly wine. Oh, and let's not forget Portuguese green wine. I want to go for a Niagara winery tour soon, just for fun, but it wouldn't hurt to know what is going on.
So it may not have much to do with garlic, but it is quite interesting. I'll look up for garlic pairings, maybe we'll get some information on what wine to drink with delicious garlic, mmmh.
The book is published by Simon & Schuster and is $25 USD. The publication date was March 13, 2007 so it's quite recent.
So I'm going to start reading it and I'll give an update to my readers as soon as have some comments to make. Maybe I'll become an (almost) wine expert soon!

Kheema, by Vijay

Published at Lorence's Kitchen
Ingredients:
½" peeled & finely chopped fresh ginger
6 cloves of garlic, minced (6 of 'em! oh yeah!)
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 pounds of ground meat (lamb or a decent beef, like sirloin)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon of salt
2 Tablespoons of garam masala (if you can't find it locally, order it from Penzey's)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
A few mustard seeds (I usually use about ½ teaspoon or so...)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Optional veggies (that I don't think are optional at all)
1 cup of cut green beans
1 can of pigeon peas (gandules), drained. (I think it's about a 14.5 ounces can)
Cubed potatoes, ½"cubes (I use 3 regular sized russets, about 2 cups or so)

I usually don't have fresh ginger on hand, but I always have a tube of ginger paste in the fridge. Fortunately for me, my local grocery store carries it, so look around! It's probably hiding out there somewhere. Also useful for this dish is a small can of whole tomatoes (in tomato juice) instead of fresh - I keep a couple of cans in the cupboard at all times for just such an emergency... chop up the entire can and add the juice, too.

The directions:

Add the oil to a large (did I say large? I meant LARGE) skillet and sauté the onion until soft and transparent.
Add the ginger and garlic and sauté for another minute or so.
Add the ground meat and brown it for 10 minutes. Break it up so it is in fine pieces.
Add the spices, tomatoes, and "optional" veggies, stir it all around...Cook, covered, on low heat for about 40 minutes

The finished product:


I serve this with basmati rice that I flavor with a bit of cumin, cilantro and some whole garlic cloves. The cloves boil and steam to a tender softness that allows them to be spread on some bread...


Enjoy, and think good things for Vijay.
Lorence