Tag Archives: garlic

Cooking Food

Garlic Tortilla Flatbread

October 31, 2012 – 5:15 PM

November is upon us and that means bad food photo lighting for those of us who do our cooking in the evening and don’t have much in the way of lighting equipment (Exhibit 1, above). It’s also the month of Thanksgiving, and this past year I’ve tried to focus more on giving thanks as much as possible — it’s healthy, which in my book means it’s just like exercising and thus gives you free license to eat more. So in the spirit of the month of gratitude, and of mitigating the depressive impact of poorly lit food photos, let me give thanks:

…for my Sunday spent by ocean, and the Instagram app that enabled me to capture it:

…for mussels, which I can see only smothered in meuniere sauce:

…for starfish big

…and small

…and for hermit-crab gatherers who poke sea anemones in the tidepools.

I’m also really thankful for tortillas, because I can just buy them, and because we often make thin-crust pizzas using them as a base. I’m thankful for the tortillas that Trader Joe’s makes. They’re so good.

I’m thankful for our friend Simon, who was the best man at our wedding and who’s visiting from England, who had the idea to make garlic bread with tortillas.

I’m thankful that this recipe is so easy, but outrageously delicious. And low-fat, if you factor in all the thanksgiving I’ve been practicing.

Spread about 1/3 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the tortilla, pizza-style. Add two cloves of minced garlic and some dried herbs, like oregano or herbes de provence.

Then, because we’ve been so grateful, add a dollop of butter for good measure:

Bake on a heated pizza stone for 5-6 minutes, til the crust is crispy and brown and the cheese begins to bubble. Cut into slices, eat immediately, give thanks (in my case, to my husband who made these), and repeat!

GARLIC TORTILLA FLATBREAD

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp oregano or herbes de provence
  • 1 pat of butter
  • 1 tortilla
Preparation
Heat oven with pizza stone in it to 450 degrees. Spread garlic and mozzarella evenly over tortilla, leaving a 1/2 inch crust on the outer rim. Sprinkle oregano or herbs on top, and add a dollop of butter.
Bake for 5-6 minutes until crust begins to brown and cheese has melted.
Makes 1 tortilla flatbread (if you’re like us, you’ll want six!).

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Cooking Food

Linguine with Garlic Langoustine Sauce

February 3, 2012 – 1:22 PM

A friend invited me to join her Mormon moms workout group that meets on Monday and Friday mornings, and I went today for the first time. Apparently Mormons like to go uphill really fast and leave Presbyterians like me with poor cardiovascular conditioning in the dust.  Then they do a bunch of pilates before doing it all over again (somehow finding a way to go uphill both ways).  Then, to spite me, Nike+ didn’t synch all my data and now I’ve been robbed of getting Nike Fuel points for a game that I don’t understand.

For this I deserve to eat.

This is super easy and great for entertaining. (I just wanted to write that because Barefoot Contessa does — I have no idea if this is great for entertaining but it is easy.)

I buy the langoustines from Costco, and they’re already cooked and frozen so I just thaw them in a mesh strainer. I’m sure I’m supposed to say that you should do this in the refrigerator but that’s not what I did. Oh, and langoustines are basically really small lobsters. I was going to link to a picture but I think it’s best not to see what they look like before you’re going to eat them.

Once your langoustines are defrosted, chop up some garlic and tomatoes and heat up your olive oil, on medium to low. You’ll want to put the garlic in there to cook for about a minute, so that they just start to look slightly golden but don’t burn.  Try not to salivate into the pan.  Turn off the heat and add in the tomatoes and langoustine, stirring. Add salt and pepper.

If you want it to taste even better, add in a half of a dried red chili pepper while the garlic is cooking. The pepper seeps into the oil slowly and gives it a nice, warm, rich flavor.

Cover and let it sit for a bit for the flavors to meld. While you’re waiting, boil the linguine. Drain, toss the sauce with the linguine, garnish with parsley, and eat those carbs. You deserve it!

LINGUINE WITH GARLIC LANGOUSTINE SAUCE

Ingredients

9 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 pound langoustine tails (pre-cooked, drained and thawed)

1 ripe tomato

1/4 cup parsley, minced

8 oz (1/2 pound) linguine

(optional) 1/2 of a dried red chili pepper or 1/2 tsp paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium to low heat. Add in garlic  (and optionally, the chili pepper) and cook for about a minute, til it begins to be a very light golden hue. (For a milder spice, substitute paprika for the chili pepper.) Off the heat, and stir in tomatoes, langoustine, salt and pepper. Cover to allow flavors to meld.

Boil the linguine and drain. Combine with prepared sauce above, stir in parsley and serve.

Serves 2-4.

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Cooking Food

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Olive Oil

January 24, 2012 – 10:14 PM

A date has been set for the EPIC BAKING DAY and I must continue to prepare. First, by purchasing more / larger pants with elastic waistbands and then determining the number of 30-pound bags of sugar I need to buy from Costco.  And I know this doesn’t make sense here but I just have to say that I LOVE HUMMUS. People sometimes ask me* what my favorite hummus is, and I have to say that it’s the Trader Joe’s Smooth and Creamy Classic Hummus. Man, I love that hummus! I’ve been eating it by the tubful in my pantry (and then telling people that my jeans are tight because I put on 10 pounds of muscle over the holidays).  It’s really good with tuna, and shepherd’s pie, and on whatever other leftovers I don’t want to taste in particular.  Sometimes I wake up at night in a sweat thinking about it. It’s that good.

I’ve been feeling bad that this blog on the whole presents more problems than solutions. So I thought I’d start sharing some things that people might find kind of useful, like…how to make brussels sprouts!

I belong to a CSA and this means that sometimes making dinner is kind of like being on Iron Chef, without all the fancy cooking stuff and the chefs. I’ve always liked brussels sprouts but they never really blew me away, and I never looked forward to them the way I look forward to hummus. Until The Day My Friend Carol Made These Brussels Sprouts.  Here’s how you do it:

First, you cut the sprouts in half.

Brussels sprouts halved

and then chop up some garlic. My mom peels garlic by using a meat hammer and squishing the cloves, so that’s what I’ve done here. It works well and it’s quick, if you don’t need the whole clove to stay intact. After you’ve squished them out of their skins, chop them up. I forgot to take a picture of that part.

Garlic

Then toss the sprouts together with the garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a baking tray, and broil for about 10 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when the sprouts turn a bright green and some of the edges start to carmelize.

Brussels sprouts in baking tray

and that’s it! This is the ONLY brussels sprouts recipe that my family will eat. Enjoy!

*Ok, in this case, people = me.

 

CARMELIZED BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH GARLIC AND OLIVE OIL

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound brussels sprouts, halved
  • 3 large or 5 small cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/8 cup olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Prepare broiler.

Toss the brussels sprouts with the garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Place on a baking tray and broil. Check after 4 minutes and toss the sprouts to ensure even exposure to heat. Pull the sprouts out after they’ve turned a brilliant green, and some of the outer leave have begun to carmelize, between 6-10 minutes. Season as needed with additional salt / pepper.

Serves 2-4.

 

 

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