Posts tagged ‘garlic’

July 7, 2011

Bruschetta

I’ve never really been one for appetizers, instead preferring to make my food and eat my food on the spot.  I wasn’t raised in a home where we had appetizers (or come to think of it, bread prior to a meal), and being a single person has amplified that disinterest in appetizers.  When preparing food for one, I often find that it’s very difficult to get eat all of the leftovers before it goes bad, and adding extra food that doesn’t directly connect to the dish seems a little counterintuitive.

Bruschetta is a dish that will make even the most average of cooks look like an epicure.  It feels high end, but it’s incredibly simple to make and relies more on the ingredients to be the star than the cook itself.  Make it for a date and serve with a nice riesling and you’ll get things off to a great start.

You can make your own variations on this dish; some people add a slice of mozarella on top, some people add different vegetables.  This one is my favorite, but feel free to experiment and try something new. Tell us about it in the comments!

Bruschetta

1 French Bread Roll
1 Package of Basil Leaves
1 Clove of Garlic
1 Red Onion
1 Tomato
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil

Chop the red tomato, red onion, and basil leaves and place into a large mixing bowl.  Crush the garlic clove and add to the mixing bowl.  Add a tablespoon of the balsamic vinegar to the mixture (the amount of balsamic will differ based on how much volume the vegetables take up.  Start with the tablespoon and taste after mixing.  Add more if needed).  Mix and let rest while you make the bed.

Slice the french bread roll into slices than are about a half inch thick.  I liked slicing at an angle as it adds some extra surface area and also provides a unique look to the bread.  Cover a baking pan with the bread, add some olive oil on each slice and place under the broiler.  These cook really fast, so pay attention, it should be done in under 5 minutes.

Take a spoon and place a scoop of the vegetable-balsamic mix on each bread slice.  Serve!

June 14, 2011

We’re Syndicated! Singular City Post – Bruschetta

Check out out post over on Singular City.  Thanks to Kim from Singular City for hooking this up.

http://singularcity.com/food-wine-and-cooking/805-menu-for-one-bruschetta

May 5, 2011

Chicken Spaghetti with Whole Tomato Sauce

Every once in a while, I get inspired to attempt an experiment.  I had seen on Alton Brown months and months ago that the best tomato sauce came from actually cooking down the tomatoes and I was curious.  So this week, I had bought some whole tomatoes as well as some onions, some garlic, and some spaghetti noodles.  I had some chicken that I had the girlfriend cook up when she was making chicken mole the other night.

I put the garlic, tomatoes, and onions in the pan with some olive oil.

I left them cook down a little bit and then added some red wine and the chicken, chopped up pretty small with a butcher knife.

I put that mix on top of the spaghetti noodles and served.

It turned out pretty well!

A few things I would change:

  1. I had decided this was a cooking wine.  In retrospect, it was probably a “pour down the drain” wine.  I think I put too much and it overpowered everything else
  2. Using grape tomatoes is probably ideal.  They cook through quicker than the bigger ones that I used.
  3. More garlic is probably better

All in all, a solid experiment.

January 13, 2011

Roasted chicken

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I can’t take credit for this one but I just wanted to show everyone I’m still eating well.  Ate off of this one for dinner and for lunch the next day for two of us.  This dish is probably ten dollars total and pretty easy to make.  Google “roasted chicken” for a recipe.

January 20, 2010

An introduction, and some chili!

Hi all, this is seth (sethhagler.wordpress.com). Jeff has agreed to let me add a bit to the blog, and I’m excited. I’m a guy, living in Nashville, who loves to eat, drink and cook. I’m engaged, but my fiancé lives about 2.5 hours away, so I get to claim my current living arrangement as living single. Look forward to writing and interacting, this should be fun!

Sunday, I found out my church was having a chili cook-off. Right up my alley, right?  So during the sermon, I made up my recipe, rocked Trader Joe’s for the necessary ingredients, plus some Yazoo Brewing “Sue” to make the process fun!, and got busy. While I don’t have pictures, I think I can portray the deliciousness appropriately.

Prep a large Vidalia onion, shredded nicely on my new mandoline, 2 large chopped shalots, 5 cloves of rough chopped garlic (I like mine chunky!) and seed and chop jalapenos, poblanos, serranos to taste.  Sweat these in a stock pot with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Once appropriately cooked, remove veg from pot, leaving the oil.

Place 2 pounds of meat in hot oil. I used ground pork and ground chuck for a variety of flavors and fat contents. You can go leaner, but add more oil if so. Season heavily to taste with ground cumin, chili powder, onion powder, finely-ground black or white pepper, red pepper, and a small bit of salt. Brown this to just under done, as it will cook thoroughly by simmering and will stay juicy.

Once meat is browned, pour in one 12-oz. beer of choice, the darker the better. I used a Yazoo “Dos Perros” just because it’s local and great, but anything dark with chocolate or malt notes works well. Other options are Negra Modelo, etc. Heat to a simmer, and then add in the veggies and stir. Let this simmer, lightly bubbling for about 30 minutes to get the flavors married.

Next comes the bulk of the chili, the tomatoes. I prefer really spicy chili, so I use Mexican canned tomatoes, such asRotel with green chilies. Also, check out Rotel ”Chili Fixins”, a can with several ingredients. Pour in 2 undrained cans of diced tomatoes, I use fire-roasted for extra flavor, and two cans of diced Rotel. For extra flavor, pour in 1/2 bottle of Cholula Hot Sauce, great taste, not too much fire. You can add more or less if you like, but this is plenty hot. For thefinal ingredient, bear with me here, add one bar of good crushed chocolate, preferably with a high cacao content (75% or more). Stir well to combine and melt chocolate.

Let this simmer for 3 or 4 hours, stirring occasionally to keep the flavors blending. Then, serve, topping with crushed corn chips, sour cream, shredded cheese (pepper jack is best!), or whatever you like. I know this is a vague recipe, but you get the idea. Don’t be afraid to try your own variation, but I will say that this won the prize for best overall chili at the 2010 Second Presbyterian Church Nashville chili cook-off!

Enjoy!

Seth

January 15, 2010

Green Pork Chili

My favorite food guy/traveler is The Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain.  Unfortunately, Comcast and the Travel Channel do not get along, but I can still view Anthony’s show on the internet (you suck comcast, make this happen).  Anthony likes to talk about the journey of finding a meal and that there’s a part where you just need to trust yourself and trust that you’re moving towards something great even if it may not look that way sometimes.

I was reminded of Anthony’s thoughts while I was trying to adapt Bobby Flay’s recipe for Green Pork Chili into something that I could handle in my own kitchen.  If you want to see his take, visit the Food Network site, but I’ll be showing you what I did below….

Ingredients

  • 2 red onions, chopped
  • 1 pound tomatillos, husked (peeled), rinsed, and halved
  • 3 jalapenos, stemmed, seeded and halved
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 4 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 pounds pork roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 5 cups store brand chicken stock
  • 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, toss the onions, tomatillos, jalapenos, and garlic with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and spread on a baking sheet. Leave in the oven until soft and starting to brown, about 20 to 30 minutes, stirring twice during roasting.  I only left for about 20 minutes and I wish I had left for 30 so the vegetables were browned a little more.  Also, while chopping the onions, I started to tear up; I’ve never teared up when chopping onions.  I turned the microwave vent on, but still had a rough go of it….not that there’s anything wrong with crying.  If you don’t know this already, it’s very important that you don’t touch your eyes before you’ve washed your hands after messing with jalapenos and onions unless you’d like to enter a world of pain.

Meanwhile, in a large pot over medium-high heat, add the oil and heat. Brown the pork, in batches, until well-browned. When browned, add all of the pork back to the pan and cover with chicken stock. Add the roasted vegetables, cover the pan and turn the stove heat to medium. Cook until the pork is very tender, about 1.5 hours.  I wish I had let the pork get a little more brown as well, but honestly, I got impatient.  If you’re trying it or I’m doing it again, I recommend letting the pork get brown.

Toss cilantro into pork mixture and stir.  Let cook for about 5 more minutes.

Honestly, this was one of the best tasting dishes I’ve made myself.

October 11, 2009

Pasta Dish

I’m a big fan of anything that’s simple with regards to food.  I started with rotini pasta (boil until not crispy), added two things I really like (tomatoes and spinach), and then a little garlic salt.

Here’s what I got

A few things to keep in mind about this dish:

1) colorful – color goes a long way towards determining how appetizing a dish is.  i know this sounds insane but it’s true

2)  different textures – soft tomatoes (stewed canned), slightly chewy spinach, and pasta.  I feel like this dish could use something else frankly (maybe a crunch?) but I haven’t decided what yet.

Here’s the brief recipe

1 large can of stewed tomatoes

3 cups of rotini

2 cups of spinach (frozen)

garlic salt to taste

1.  put rotini into pot of boiling water – easiest way to tell this is done is to use a fork to spear one piece of pasta.  if it’s soft and not chewy, it’s ready

2.  put spinach in a microwave safe bowl with a small amount of water, cook in microwave for 2 mins.

3.  add tomatoes to bowl of spinach, heat for 1 minute in microwave.

4.  drain water from rotini.  add rotini and spinach/tomato mixture to large mixing bowl.  sprinkle garlic salt on top (this stuff is strong, don’t be shy but don’t go crazy).  STIR.

Again, I added the tomatoes and spinach because I like tomatoes and spinach.  Add stuff that you like to this simple dish and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

This also makes PLENTY of leftovers and is easily reheated and served again.  If you’re cooking it for a lady friend, add some garlic bread or a salad to make it more impressive.

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