Showing posts with label Garlic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garlic. Show all posts

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Spicy Roasted Bacon Tomato Cauliflower

The rich garlicky sun-dried tomato pesto adds a lovely flavor to the cauliflower as it roasts in a little bacon fat. A generous sprinkling of crispy bacon and Parmesan finish this dish to perfection. This one is a side dish that wouldn't mind taking center stage.

Food Lust People Love: The rich garlicky sun-dried tomato pesto adds a lovely flavor to the cauliflower as it roasts in a little bacon fat. A generous sprinkling of crispy bacon and Parmesan finish this dish to perfection. This one is a side dish that wouldn't mind taking center stage.

Cauliflower is one of my very favorite vegetables as you can see from the many cauliflower recipes on this site. From main dishes like savory cheesy cauliflower cake (it's a beauty!) and curried cauliflower chicken pilaf, great brunch recipes like cauliflower cheese waffles and cauliflower Roquefort tart, to my absolute favorite cauliflower cheese pie with crunchy potato crust (just to name a few!) I think I've featured cauliflower more than any other vegetable.

This particular dish is another favorite. It checks of all of my boxes.

Cheesy. It's got your Parmesan.
Spicy. Fresh chili pepper for the win.
Bacon. You betcha!
Easy. Nothing easier than roasting. Pop it on a pan. Roast!
Cauliflower.  One whole head. That said, this recipe is REALLY easy to double for a bigger crowd.

Check, check, check, check and check. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do. And if you are a fan of cauliflower too, you are going to want to scroll on down to see the link list of all the cauliflower recipes my Sunday Supper friends are sharing today.

Spicy Roasted Bacon Tomato Cauliflower


This recipe is adapted from these two recipes from Eggton and Steamy Kitchen.

Ingredients
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (dry, not packed in oil – about 1 1/4 oz or 35g by weight)
4 slices streaky thin cut smoky bacon (about 3 1/8 oz or 90g)
1 head cauliflower (Mine weighed 1 2/3 lbs or 765g)
5 medium garlic cloves
1 hot chili pepper
3/4 oz or 20g grated Parmesan cheese, plus an equal amount for serving
Olive oil

Method
Place your sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl and pour hot water over them. Set aside to soak and plump up.

Chop your bacon into small pieces and spread them around on a large baking pan. Put the pan in the oven and turn it on to preheat to 400°F or 200°C. The bacon will bake and get crispy as the oven preheats so keep an eye on it.



Meanwhile, cut the green leaves off of your cauliflower and break or cut it into florets.



Check on your bacon!

Drain the tomatoes but keep the water. Put the tomatoes, garlic, chili pepper and  Parmesan in the blender or food processor. Add some of the tomato soaking water and process until smooth. If it is too thick, just keep adding the water, a little at a time. This needs to be thick enough to coat the cauliflower yet thin enough to make it into all the little crevices in the florets.

Check on your bacon in the oven. If it’s already crispy, take the pan from the oven and use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon pieces, leaving the bacon fat behind in the pan.

Put your cauliflower in a large bowl and pour the sauce over it.

Stir well to coat the florets.



Put your sauced cauliflower florets in the baking pan, stem side up, and separated so that they can get roasted.  If you make a big pile, they’ll just steam.



Roast for 15-20 minutes in your preheated oven, then turn the cauliflower florets over to roast the other side. Drizzle with a little olive oil or more bacon fat if you have some handy.



Put the pan back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until the cauliflower is done to your liking.

To serve, scrape the roasted cauliflower, and all the good, roasted sticky bits from the pan, into a serving bowl. Sprinkle on the crispy bacon pieces and another generous handful of freshly grated Parmesan.

Food Lust People Love: The rich garlicky sun-dried tomato pesto adds a lovely flavor to the cauliflower as it roasts in a little bacon fat. A generous sprinkling of crispy bacon and Parmesan finish this dish to perfection. This one is a side dish that wouldn't mind taking center stage.


Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: The rich garlicky sun-dried tomato pesto adds a lovely flavor to the cauliflower as it roasts in a little bacon fat. A generous sprinkling of crispy bacon and Parmesan finish this dish to perfection. This one is a side dish that wouldn't mind taking center stage.




Check out all the Sunday Supper cauliflower recipes! Many thanks to our host Caroline of Caroline's Cooking and our event manager Christie of A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures for all of their behind the scenes work.

Creative Cauliflower Starters and Sides

Make My Cauliflower a Main Dish


Pin it! 

Food Lust People Love: The rich garlicky sun-dried tomato pesto adds a lovely flavor to the cauliflower as it roasts in a little bacon fat. A generous sprinkling of crispy bacon and Parmesan finish this dish to perfection. This one is a side dish that wouldn't mind taking center stage.
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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Caramelized Garlic Chèvre Stuffed Bread #BreadBakers

Caramelized garlic and chèvre - goat cheese - fill this wonderful savory loaf that is then topped with more cheese. Set this on your brunch table and watch it disappear!
Caramelized garlic and chèvre - goat cheese - fill this wonderful savory loaf that is then topped with more cheese. Set this on your brunch table and watch it disappear!

Just the words caramelized garlic chèvre stuffed bread make my mouth water. You should have smelled the house while the garlic was caramelizing in butter and then while the loaf was baking! Pretty much torture, but fortunately there was relief in sight.

This month my Bread Bakers group is featuring garlic in honor of National Garlic Day on the 19th of April at the instigation of bread baker extraordinaire and our host this month, Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories. You might recall that I participated in Garlic Day celebrations the last two years, making slow-roasted lamb with 40 cloves of garlic in 2014 and garlicky lobster shrimp scampi in 2015. This year time got away from me so I was grateful to Karen for making sure that one of my favorite national food days did not go by uncelebrated in this space.

This recipe was adapted from Thyme For Cooking.

Ingredients
For the dough:
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 packet rapid rise yeast (1/4 oz or 7g)
1/4 cup or 60ml water
1/8 cup or 30ml milk
1/8 cup or 30ml olive oil, plus a little extra to oil the bowl
1 egg
1 egg yolk (save white for glaze)
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups or 150g whole wheat bread flour
1 cup or 125g strong white bread flour

For the filling:
3 1/2 oz or 100g cloves garlic
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

For assembly:
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
8 1/2 oz or 240g goat cheese (I used a mix of fresh and slightly aged.)
1 egg white, beaten

Method
In large bowl, dissolve sugar in water and sprinkle in yeast. It should foam up within a few minutes. If it does not, get some new yeast and start again.



In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, oil, egg, egg yolk, and salt to combine. Add this to the yeast mixture with the whole wheat bread flour and stir well.



Add in about three quarters of the white bread flour and mix to make a soft dough.

Turn it out onto lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, adding more of the remaining flour if the dough is too sticky.



Oil your mixing bowl and pop the dough back in, turning the ball to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap; let rest for 20-25 minutes. When you are using rapid rise yeast, this takes place of the first rise. If you do substitute regular yeast, leave to rise until doubled.

While the dough is resting, we’ll caramelize the garlic. Cut the fatter cloves in half and put them all in a pan with a tight fitting lid, with the water, butter, olive oil, sugar and a sprinkle of salt.



Cook  covered over a medium heat for a few minutes until the garlic softens. Remove the cover and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, keeping a careful eye out for burning, until all the water has evaporated and the garlic has turned a lovely golden color. Remove from the heat. Add a few good grinds of fresh black pepper.



To assembly the loaf, roll the dough out into a rectangle of about 12x17 in or 30x43cm.

Spread the mustard up the middle of the rectangle and then scatter on the caramelized garlic.



Starting near one end, use a sharp knife to cut diagonal strips all the way along the sides, up to the filling.


Crumble your goat cheese and set aside a good handful for topping. Sprinkle the rest of the crumbles on top of the mustard/garlic.



Fold one end in and then brush the top with the beaten egg white.



Fold the strips up and over, alternating sides, brushing the tops in between with egg white to help the strips stick together.



When you get near the other end, fold it in.


Then continue brushing with egg white and folding the strips over until all of the filling is covered. Carefully transfer the loaf to a lined baking pan. You can, of course, do the shaping on the lined baking pan but then you have to be very careful when cutting the dough strips that you don’t cut your silicone liner or parchment paper.





Brush the whole top again with the whisked egg whites. Set in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes, then preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

When the oven reaches temperature, bake the loaf for about 25-30 minutes or until it is lovely and golden.

Remove the loaf from the oven and sprinkle on the reserved cheese crumbles.

Return it to the oven for another 5-7 minutes or until the cheese is slightly melted and just starting to brown in places. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes before cutting.


Enjoy!



How will you celebrate National Garlic Day? May I suggest you bake some delicious garlicky bread?
BreadBakers
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send me an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

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Sunday, March 27, 2016

Slow-Cooked Lamb Shoulder with Roasted Vegetables

You can’t beat lamb shoulder, slow roasted with loads of vegetables, rosemary and garlic. It practically falls off the bone, the succulent lamb is so tender. I promise you won't even need a knife.

This week my Sunday Supper group is joyously celebrating a wedding we wish we could really attend, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, the sequel to one of our favorite movies. It’s been a long time coming! When the theme for this week was first announced, all I could think about was the quote from Aunt Voula, and one of my favorite scenes from the first movie.
Aunt Voula: What do you mean he don't eat no meat?
[the entire room stops, in shock]
Aunt Voula: Oh, that's okay. I make lamb.
So I had to make lamb. We eat lamb a minimum of three to four times a month at our house, either roasted leg or shoulder, lamb steaks, lamb patties with mashed potatoes and gravy, not to mention grilled lamb chops. This dish is one of our favorites and would make a great main course for Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday which will be celebrated on May 1st this year.

Make sure you scroll down and check out the link list of all the other My Big Fat Greek Wedding-inspired dishes we are sharing today, along with our talented host, Nichole from Casa de Crews. What a fabulous Greek wedding feast this would be!

Adapted from JamieOliver.com.

Ingredients
2 purple onions (approx. weight 9 oz or 255g)
3 carrots (approx. weight 9 oz or 255g)
2- 3 stalks celery (approx. weight 3 3/4 oz or 105g)
Few sprigs fresh thyme
5-6 fresh rosemary sprigs, plus 1 for garnish, if desired
Olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
5 lb 10 oz or 2.55kg lamb shoulder, bone in
2 1/3 oz or 65g cloves garlic (about 15)
2 red chili peppers (optional but we love the hint of spice that infuses the whole dish)
4 ripe tomatoes (approx. weight 11 oz or 312g)
2 cans – 14oz or 400g – whole plum tomatoes
1 2/3 cups or 375ml drinkable red wine (half a bottle)
2 bay leaves
1 large leek (approx. weight 14 oz or 400g, before trimming)

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and make sure the shelves are positioned so that you put a pan with a big lamb shoulder in it. I use my large Le Creuset roaster so I put the shelf almost at the bottom to leave room for the cover and its round handle.

Peel the onions and carrots. Quarter the onions. Cut the carrots and celery into bite-sized pieces.

Strip the leaves off of your thyme and sprinkle half of them into the bottom of a large roasting pan, along with a good drizzle of olive oil, a couple of sprigs of rosemary and a good pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Season the bottom of your lamb shoulder with more salt and pepper and lay it on the herb bed.



Use a sharp paring knife to poke holes in the top of the lamb shoulder, then stuff these holes with a quarter or half a clove of garlic (depending on the size of your clove) and a few rosemary leaves.

Give the whole thing a good sprinkle of salt, fresh ground black pepper. Add on the other half of the thyme leaves and a generous drizzle of olive oil.

Add the onions, celery and chili peppers around the lamb shoulder.



Chop your tomatoes in large pieces and add them to the pot along with the carrots.



Pour in the canned tomatoes, along with half a can of water and the rest of the garlic cloves.



Pour in the wine and then tuck the bay leaves down in between the vegetables.

Thoroughly clean the leek, cut off and discard the hard green end, and then chop the white part into small cylinders. Add these to the pot.



Cover the roasting pan tightly with a double layer of heavy-duty foil or its tight fitting cover and put it into the oven. Turn down the oven temperature to 325°F or 170°C and cook for about three hours.



Remove the cover or the foil, baste the lamb shoulder with the juice in the pan or drizzle with a little more olive oil.  Cook for another 30 minutes or until the lamb is nicely browned and falling off the bone.



You can gently remove some of the bones before putting it on the table for folks to help themselves or pull it apart for them in the kitchen.

Either way, serve it with some crusty bread to sop up all the juices. Or over the top of some mashed potatoes.



Enjoy!

Have you seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 yet? It just opened in the cinemas here in Dubai but I haven’t had a chance go yet so I am going to have to just console myself with some movie-inspired dishes instead. Won’t you join me?

Greek Appetizers:
Greek Soups:
Greek Breakfast:
Greek Main Dishes:
Greek Side Dishes:
Greek Desserts:
Greek Beverages:

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Sunday, March 6, 2016

Browned Butter Braised Baby Turnips

Sweet baby turnips, cooked till tender then pan-roasted in browned butter are seasoned with garlic and thyme for a special side dish where this much maligned root vegetable shines. 

When I say much maligned, I am talking about by me personally. When I was young, my mom made a delicious vegetable soup with beef that was the perfect meal for a chilly day, except that in addition to chunks of potato, she also added similarly cut turnips. Try as I might when serving my bowl, I invariably ended up with a turnip or two. I did not like turnips, not one bit. The potential of the unexpected bitter bite made eating that otherwise tasty soup like spooning my way through a minefield of bitter turnips that might be masquerading as innocent potatoes.

I am more fifty years old now and I decided at the end of last year that I should give turnips another try. After all, some say that our tastes change every seven years and it has probably been a good 35 or 40 since I last accidently ate a turnip. (I certainly never ate one intentionally.) My mom says that since turnips are a winter crop, that is when they are they are tender and most flavorful.  Before Christmas I bought a few and started searching “turnip recipes for haters”  and “turnip recipes for turnip haters.” A surprising number show up! Time for a true confession: Despite the research and initial enthusiasm my motivation was low and I ended up conveniently forgetting the turnips in the vegetable drawer. I found them there, wizened, in the new year and threw them away with just the slightest twinge of regret and guilt for wasting food.

When the root vegetable event was announced for Sunday Supper, I knew what I had to do: Pull up my big girl panties, buy some more turnips and get serious about creating a recipe that I might eat. I found some baby turnips that said, “Naturally sweet and tender” which seemed like a promising place to start. The baby turnips brought to mind a recipe I had tested for America's Test Kitchen for brown butter braised new potatoes so the recipe part was settled quickly, even as I put the babies in my shopping basket.

I am pleased to tell you that I am now a turnip eater. At least of baby ones cooked with browned butter, garlic and thyme. Sure, some of them were still a little bitter but not any more than Brussels sprouts, which I adore.

Small turnips work best with this recipe, but you could also use larger turnips and quarter them.

Ingredients
1 lb or 450g baby turnips
1 cup or 240ml water
3 tablespoons or 43g unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, peeled
3 sprigs fresh thyme, plus extra to garnish, if desired
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Top and tail the turnips. That is, trim both the root and the stem ends down to the white part. Cut the baby turnips in half.


Arrange turnips in single layer, cut side down, in a large non-stick skillet.

Add water, butter, garlic, thyme, and salt and bring to simmer over medium-high heat.



Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until turnips are just tender, about 10 minutes.



Use a slotted spoon to transfer garlic to small bowl with the lemon juice. Use the tip of a sharp knife to cut the garlic into small bits. Add in a few generous grinds of fresh black pepper.


Increase the heat under the uncovered turnip pan to medium-high and vigorously simmer, swirling the pan occasionally, until the water completely evaporates and the butter starts to sizzle, 7 to 10 minutes.



Continue to cook turnips, swirling pan frequently, until butter browns and turnips are golden and roasty looking, 6-7 minutes longer.

Just at the end, add the garlic/lemon juice mixture and toss to thoroughly coat.

If you are transferring the baby turnips to a serving bowl, make sure to scrape the pan with a silicone spatula and drizzle all the lovely browned butter over them.



Garnish with additional thyme, if desired.



Enjoy!

Are you a fan of root vegetables? If your answer is yes, you are in for a treat this week with such a great line up of recipes from our Sunday Supper tastemakers. If not, perhaps we’ll win you over! Many thanks to Cindy from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings who is hosting this week.

Appetizers
Breakfast
Main
Sides
Desserts

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Garlic Chili Tiger Prawns

You cannot beat the combination of prawns (or shrimp – let’s not debate the genetic and habitation differences, okay?) with garlic and fresh red chilies and loads of butter. Put this on the table and your family will be gathered round, close as a family can get, as they clean the plate.

You can do complicated or you can do simple. But I have found that the most enjoyed meals around a family table are often the ones that take the least prep time, especially if they also involve butter and garlic and everyone dipping crusty bread in same. I’ve made this as an appetizer, but it can also be expanded to a main if you toss some freshly cooked linguine (or pasta shape of your choice – my favorite just happens to be linguine) in the seasoned butter, in lieu of the crusty bread.

Another serving suggestion.


This week, my Sunday Supper group is celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Sunday Supper Movement with recipes that we love, as a kickoff to National Sunday Supper Month. Our mentor and the inspirational force behind the Sunday Supper Movement is Isabel of Family Foodie, who started the group when her eldest left home for the first time. When asked what she missed the most, Isabel’s daughter said it was eating Sunday supper with the family. Unfortunately in our busy lives, family meals are one of the things that often get pushed aside for other obligations. Isabel vowed to do something about that, something that would encourage others to take the time, indeed to make the time to eat together, and the Sunday Supper Movement was born.

In my growing up family, Sunday Supper was always the midday meal. As my own girls were growing up, it was often the evening meal but, still, Sundays were inviolate. One could spend time with friends all day on Saturday, even sleep away on Friday or Saturday nights, but Sundays were for family. Friends were welcome to join, of course, but I wanted my girls home on Sundays, for family day. Most of the week they ate the evening meal earlier than their father and me, because of their homework and his late hours, but on the weekends we ate together. Fridays were pizza nights. Saturday and Sunday suppers varied but often involved grilled something on the charcoal barbecue pit when the weather was good or roasted in the oven when it wasn't. The important thing was that we were together.

If you agree, and I hope you do, I’d like to encourage you to head over to the Sunday Supper Movement website and sign our pledge to gather round the family table more often in 2016.

Ingredients
3 large cloves garlic (or even more if you are so inclined)
2 spicy red chilies
Olive oil
1/3 cup or 70g butter
9 large or 330g tiger prawns, already cleaned and peeled, tails left intact (Sub more small prawns/shrimp if you can't find the large tiger ones. It's all good.)
Sea salt
Parsley, chopped, to garnish

To serve: Crusty bread, cut in slices

Method
Slice the garlic and mince the chilies.

Put a good drizzle of olive oil in the pan, then add the butter, garlic and chilies.

Sauté until the garlic is softened and translucent. Add in the prawns and give them a good sprinkle of sea salt.


Cook the prawns on one side for a few minutes and then turn them over and cook on the other side till done.



Transfer the prawns to a warm serving plate, then spoon the seasoned butter from the pan over them.

Or toss your cooked pasta in those fabulous juices.




Sprinkle with a little chopped parsley for color and serve immediately with slices of crusty bread for sopping up all that flavor.


Enjoy!

This week we have 60 delicious recipes for you! What an incredible line up for our Sunday Supper Month Kickoff!

Appetizers and Soups

Main courses

Side dishes

Desserts