Holiday Food

  The menu for Sundays food at the Olsons' house was, Salad, Homemade bread, Potato salad, Cole slaw, Crab stuffed flounder, and Fresh berries and Sabayon
   Cole slaw:
   1 head finely sliced cabbage
   1/2 red onion thinly sliced 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
   12 oz. diced green chilies
   1 Tbs. salt
   juice from 2 limes
   4 diced garlic cloves
   1/3 cup olive oil
   1 oz. sesame oil
   Combine first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Then in a small saute pan, heat the oils and garlic over med. heat. Cook till garlic simmers about a minute. Do not brown garlic. Then add to slaw. Mix thoroughly and chill.
   Very interesting flavors

   Potato salad:
   10 each small red and purple potatoes, boiled till tender
   1 rib celery thinly sliced
   1/4 red onion thinly sliced
   3 cloves roasted garlic, mashed
   1/3 cup chopped parsley
   1 tsp. dry mustard
   2 chipotle peppers finely chopped
   1 tsp. salt
   1/3 cup mayonnaise
   Mix all ingredients thoroughly and chill.
   This dish also had good and unusual flavors
  

Pizza party

Hi all,
   So far no one is able to comment on the meal we have had. Too full to comment. The various pizzas prepared were delightful... each and every one. Never had sage on a pizza before but it was great. All of the pizzas were prepared right before our eyes with fresh rolled crust. Bob is a culinary genius.

Beef Paprikash

   I made this dish because I had a bunch of sirloin tips leftover from trimming out a couple of whole sirloins. The sirloin is certainly nice stuff to work with, but regular stew meat would work just as well. I picked this dish probably because I've been making Beef Bourguignone a little to much and I was looking for a different flavor. Mission accomplished.


    3 oz. veg oil
   1 green pepper diced
   2 yellow onions diced
   3 cloves garlic
   chicken stock or water, enough to just cover all ingredients
   4 TB. paprika
   3 lbs. beef  stew sized pieces
   flour for dredging
   Salt and pepper to taste
     
    In a heavy bottomed braising pan or stock pot heat 1 oz. veg oil, add the green pepper and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and  cook till onion is softened and slightly translucent. Add stock or water and reduce heat to simmer.
   In a separate saute pan, over med. heat just enough oil to cover bottom of pan and brown the dredged pieces of beef. It will take about 4-5 batches to cook it all. After each batch is browned on all sides, add to pepper and onion mixture. when all the beef has been cooked and added to the pot, cover and simmer for about 2 hours or until beef is very tender.
   I first served this dish over egg noodles. Since then I've had it over rice. It can also be served with mashed potatoes. Feeling ambitious?  It would be great over gnocchi.
   Well this dish, that I don't make often enough, was so enjoyable, I don't really know what to say, except, try it and enjoy.

   Ciao for now, Garlichut
  

Just for kicks

So, Ever since the Super Bowl party that I went to, I've wanted to make the breaded chicken tenders that I made in the place of traditionalchicken wings. I particularly enjoyed the tenders with Franks Redhot sauce. So, what pops into my mind? Well I just finished having the breaded chicken fingers on a tortilla with a little melted Monterey jack cheese, sliced avocado, some citantro, a little lettuce and a liberal splash of hot sauce. It might not exactly be health food, but OMG it was good. Try it and enjoy.

   Ciao for now,  Garlichut

     

Easter is coming

  With Easter coming this week, I've turned my thoughts towards the flavors of the Easter feast. The main portion of Easter feasts often being the great stand alone flavors of turkey, ham, or lamb, I started to think about complimentary flavored side dishes.
  Some of the side dishes I've made to complement holiday meals are:
   String Beans with olive oil garlic mushrooms and thyme
   Brussels sprouts lightly browned and simmered in chicken stock
   Broccoli blanched with some melted butter and bread crumbs
   Sweet potatoes baked peeled sliced and glazed
     A glaze can be simply some brown sugar and balsamic vinegar simmered to thicken. Or add one of your favorite spirits to the glaze, such as cognac, Bourbon, jack Daniels or whatever
   Scalloped potatoes are one of my favorite sides

  Whatever your holiday meal consists of, always remember to keep it simple and enjoy
  Have a great holiday and Ciao for now,   Garlichut
 

Spinach and feta

   Some neighbors were over for dinner last night. I made spinach and feta stuffed mushrooms as an app.. I had more filling than I needed, so as usual, I put it into a ramekin and saved it for today.  Today while I was heating up some leftover potatoes in the toaster oven, I put the Spinach and feta mixture in the oven also. I enjoy that little dish of spinach and feta so much, I decided that I had to share it with whomever might want to make it. It would make a great and unusual vegetable to accompany just about any main course.

   1 bag cleaned and washed spinach
   1/2 bunch green onions, white part only finely chopped
   1 clove garlic minced
   1 tsp. olive oil
   4 oz. crumbled feta cheese
   1 egg lightly beaten
   1/4 cup romano cheese
   fresh ground black pepper to taste

   Cook spinach in a pot with a little water till wilted. Set aside in a colander to drain and cool. In a small saute pan heat the oil, onion, and garlic until softened.  Squeeze out as much moisture from the spinach as you can.Transfer the spinach to a cutting board and chop it fine.  Put the spinach, onion mixture and the rest of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir well to combine. Divide the mixture evenly in 4 small ramekins. Bake for 20- 25 minutes at 350. If you need more servings or want to cut down on the cheese just either add another bag of spinach at the start, for more or, use only 2 oz. of feta. You could use frozen chopped spinach, but there's no substitute for fresh. It's like OMG. Enjoy

      Ciao for now,    Garlichut


  

Chowder cookoff

   Well, I was a judge over the weekend for the Oriental Womens club anual chowder cookoff. My fellow judges were, local TV personality, meteorologist Skip Waters, and food writer Eddy Browning. Samples of chowder were tasted blindly, with the only identification being letter association. ABCD.  It was fun to analyse and discuss all the different flavors and textures.
   There was certainly a wide variety of styles. Most were cream based. Afew were southern style with clear broth.  About half of the entries had a specific dominant flavor, be it tarragon, dill, sherry, bacon, red pepper. allthough there were some good examples, all judges agreed that there wasn't any that clearly stood out.
   In the course of conversation, I mentioned a corn salad that I used to make. So for Eddy Brownings' interest in it, here is the recipe.
  
   Mexican Corn salad

   2- 15 oz. cans corn drained - or
   4 cups fresh cooked corn, cut off the cob
   4 oz. diced green chilis
   1/4 tsp. ground cumin
   2 tbs. lime juice
   1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
   1 clove garlic, sauteed in 1 tbs. olive oil to soften the flavor
   salt and pepper to taste

   Combine all ingredients and mix well

   Enjoy

  Ciao for now,  Garlichut