Tag Archives: garlic

Tomato Basil Bruschetta Mix

24 Mar

Ever since my little nieces fell in love with my Shrek’s Spaghetti… they’ve been asking for me to fix them every time they come over to visit.  The thing is that not every time Titi Madelyn has the spinach fettuccini that gives Shrek’s Spaghetti its peculiar name.

So a few weeks back, my solution was to just marinate the tomatoes and serve them as an appetizer with crackers instead.  They liked it a lot… as did their mothers.  Now, this has become a frequent request for parties and get-togethers.  It’s really good…  try it for yourself.

 

TOMATO BASIL BRUSCHETTA MIX

4 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped – you could also use a pint of grape or cherry tomatoes
8-10 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 tbs of basil, chopped – I have been using freeze-dried lately
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
1 tsp Salt
½ tsp freshly cracked Black Pepper
About ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

 

  1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Mix together well.
  2. Marinate the tomato mixture at room temperature for about 30 minutes to 1 hour, tossing and mixing every once in a while. 
  3. Remove the pieces of smashed garlic before serving to your guests.  Enjoy with whole-wheat toasts or crackers.

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Chunky Tomato Sauce

1 May

I started making this sauce because I wanted to try some techniques I learned from one of my favorite chefs, Jamie Oliver.  When I was at London’s Heathrow Airport doing a stop over a few years ago, I bought this cooking magazine with a small booklet inside with various Jamie Oliver recipes. 

Jamie talked about frying the basil and adding balsamic vinegar to the sauce to give it a special kick…  I have always seen chefs add wine to sauces and it was very welcoming to me to know I could also do it with vinegar and get a similar result.   BTW – This was the same magazine where my favorite whisk came with…

This is also one of the recipes made with basil from my CSA box…

 

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CHUNKY TOMATO SAUCE

1 jar of whole peeled tomatoes
1 jar of fire-roasted tomatoes
1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced thin
1 handful of basil, washed well and leaves removed from the stems
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and Freshly cracked pepper

 

  1. In a tall skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic slices and the basil stems.  Sauté for a few minutes to infuse the oil with garlic and basil taste.  Add the basil leaves and sauté a bit.
  2. Add the tomatoes to the skillet.  Stir to combine well.  Season with salt and pepper, and add the balsamic vinegar. 
  3. When the sauce starts to boil, lower the heat to medium low and cook uncovered for about 25-30 minutes, until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.  I like it chunky…  If you prefer it more liquidy, cook for less time.
  4. Remove the basil stems before serving.

 

Toss with your favorite noodle pasta or use it in a Pita Pizza Margherita.

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Green Olive Olivata

24 Apr

This recipe comes from my friend Katherine… she brought this delicious green olive spread  to one of our weekly french sessions as an example of cuisine from Toulouse.  If this is not true “Toulousan” cuisine, then at least she makes it for her husband and in-laws from Toulouse regularly, which love the recipe very much.  Now we all love it too…

Olivata, just like a French tapenade, has olives as its base.  I call this recipe an olivata, because I heard Giada DiLaurentiis once say that a tapenade has anchovies and olivatas do not.  I have searched some confirmation to this fact on the internet and beyond and have not reached a clear verdict yet.  This recipe does not include anchovies; therefore it is an olivata to me.

 

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GREEN OLIVE OLIVATA

About 10 large manzanilla pitted olives, but any large green olive will do…  just make sure they’re pitted
1 garlic clove
The juice of 1 lime
Freshly cracked pepper – about 5 grinds of a pepper mill
About ¼ cup olive oil
  1. I drain the olives and wash them a bit under running filtered water.  This will remove some of the saltiness.
  2. Place olives, garlic, lime juice and pepper in a food processor.  Pulse a few times to chop the olives and garlic well.
  3. Add the olive oil and let it run for about 10 seconds, until it gets to a finely chopped consistency.

 

Serve with crackers, toasted bread or as a sandwich spread…

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Garlic-infused Mashed Potatoes

8 Feb

I once saw Tyler Florence do mashed potatoes boiled in a mixture of cream and milk.  He infused the liquid with lots of flavors – bay leaves, garlic and salt, among others.  This is my rendition of those potatoes…

I used half and half – partly because I already had it in my fridge, partly because that’s exactly same thing as mixing equal parts of milk and cream…  why buy two things if you can buy only one.  What I liked about adding the garlic whole and letting it cook with the half and half is that it mellows the strong taste of garlic…  giving it a smoother, almost roasted, taste to the mashed potatoes.

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GARLIC-INFUSED MASHED POTATOES

About 10-12 fingerling potatoes – I would also use Yukon Gold or Red Bliss Potatoes, which are my favorites
About 2 cups of half and half – enough that would cover most of the potatoes
1 bay leaf – fresh or dry
2 medium garlic cloves – smashed and with the peel removed
Salt to taste – I used about 1 tsp
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper – optional
 
  1. Wash well the potatoes  – It is very important to wash well the potatoes because we will not discard the liquid they’re being boiled in.  Cut them in half or even thirds if the potatoes are a bit large. I usually do not cut my potatoes too small, but because we’re boiling them with the same liquid we’re mashing them in, none of the nutrition will be “drained away”. 
  2. Add the potatoes, half and half, salt, bay leaf and garlic to a large pot.  You might think the pot is too large, but this is to prevent any spillovers.  I tend to cover my pots when I boil potatoes, but because we’re doing it in a dairy product, only half-cover the pot for now.  This will help bring the liquid to a nice simmer/ light boil.
  3. Boil the potatoes for about 30 minutes, until they’re fork tender.  Fingerlings tend to be a bit tougher than Yukon Gold’s or Red potatoes… just so you know.
  4. When the potatoes are done, cover the pot and let them be for about 10-15 minutes.  The steam inside the pot will ensure they’ll be thoroughly cooked and the liquid will not be as hot for you to handle the mashing…  this is experience talking here.
  5. When the time has elapsed, discard the bay leaf, drain some of the liquid out (this will make the mashing a bit easier) and mash potatoes with remaining liquid with a potato masher.  Add more of the boiling liquid if you see they’re not as creamy as you would like them to be.  I use most of the half and half when I make them.   As you’ll see, the garlic is soft enough and mashes easily into the potatoes.
  6. Check for seasonings.  Add more salt if needed.  Add cracked pepper is using.

 

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Roasted Veggie Stock

26 Jul

I always wanted to make my own vegetable stock… but I was inspired when I read about a year ago that someone had made a roasted vegetable stock to give added body to an Onion Soup.   I have wanted to make a vegetarian version of Onion Soup for a long time too. Why a vegetarian version?  It’s onion soup… no?  In case you were not aware, onion soup is made traditionally using beef stock or beef consommé – making it unsuitable for vegetarians.

So based on the idea that if you roast something in the oven it concentrates its flavors we got our hands dirty and made home-made roasted vegetable stock.  It’s simple; it just has a lot of ingredients and takes a little while.

 

 

 

ROASTED VEGETABLE STOCK

2 medium carrots, cut into large chunks
2 medium onions, quartered
4 stalks celery, cut into large chunks
2 medium zucchini, cut into large chunks
2 bell peppers, green or red, roughly chopped
1 leek, washed well
1 large shallot, cut in half with skin on
2 garlic heads
A bunch of flat leaf parsley
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 tbs Herbamare seasoning
1 cup crushed tomatoes
12 cups of water
4 bay leaves
½ cup balsamic vinegar
  1. First we need to roast the vegetables to make the stock…  so pre-heat the oven to 400° F.
  2. Place all the cut veggies (carrots thru parsley) in 2 baking sheets.  I tried to fit them all in one, but they were too much for my baking sheets.  Drizzle them lightly with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper generously.  Sprinkle the Herbamare too.  Using your clean hands, toss all the veggies until they’re well coated with the oil and seasonings.  Try to add as little oil as possible, because if you add too much oil now, it will make your stock oilier later on.
  3. Roast in the oven for approximately 30-40 minutes, turning the vegetables once during cooking.  Try for the veggies not to get too dark.
  5. When the vegetables are done roasting, transfer them to the largest, deepest pot you have…  I had to do this in two batches because I do not own large enough pots. 
  6. To the roasted vegetables in the mega large pot you’ll add the water, the tomatoes, bay leaves and balsamic vinegar.  Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the flavors are extracted into the water.
  7. Let the stock cool down a bit so you can safely handle it.  When it is cool enough, strain the stock using a large colander over a very large bowl.  I suggest you strain the stock again using a fine mesh to make the stock as clear as possible.

 

Now you can store the stock in a bowl for use in the very near future or you can transfer to freezer bags and freeze in 1 cup or 2 cup increments to use later when making soups or risottos.

This yielded me about 10 cups of stock.  I used about 9 cups for the French Onion Soup and saved the rest for future use.

Easy to do and the flavor is spectacular.

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