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Posts Tagged ‘Condiments’

Day #14 – I’ve Got A Crush On Garlic

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , on December 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I almost always increase the number of garlic cloves any recipe calls for.  I’m Italian and many dishes I make are of that ethnicity and with garlic.  I’ve had a couple of garlic presses and hated trying to poke all of the residual garlic out of the holes.   Then I had one of those that switch the head back and forth and it pushes the last of the garlic out;  Unfortunately I broke two of those – not sure how or why.

When the rubber tube garlic peeler came out, I bought one of them and one for my daughter.  At first it seemed like the ideal way to peel garlic and I used it hundreds of times.  Lately I’ve been peeling cloves sans tools because, because I have no idea why lol.  

LOOK what I found!  A new garlic tool and it looks like a winner.  It is called Joseph Joseph Rocker Garlic Crusher. It looks like this:

It ROCKS!

It ROCKS!

By using downward pressure and a ‘rocking’ motion, this stylish tool breaks up garlic cloves quickly and easily, forcing the pieces up through the array of small holes in its base. The crushed pieces are then held in the curved design, allowing them to be spooned or scraped conveniently into a pan or bowl. Additional cloves can also be crushed at this stage before emptying. Continue rocking for a finer texture. Rocker™ is easy to clean under running water but is also dishwasher safe. 

It was designed by Goodwin Hartshorn and is available through Yellow Octopus for $12.95

 

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Kale and Artichokes – YES They Go Well Together!

Posted in Everyday Food, tagged , , , , , , , on July 3, 2013| 2 Comments »

So many of the good and tasty recipes I get come from Wegman’s, my favorite grocery store at the shore.  At my store, they have an in-house chef who cooks up  a fabulous dish and hands out samples.  Of course the ingredients for this dish are within an arm’s reach of Gus. This week he was cooking organic kale and artichokes.  Such a simple combination, no heavy lifting, no exotic ingredients.  I bought the package of kale, I already had a big jar of artichoke hearts.  His recipe didn’t use marinated artichoke hearts so I asked him if he thought I could use them and he suggested that I use some of the oil from the jar in place of the olive oil he used.  

I covered the bottom of my braising pan with a little olive and sliced up a big clove of garlic and sauteed  it on medium low heat.  I cut the artichoke hearts in half and in thirds – they were loaded with oil and I tossed them into the pan.  I cooked them on slightly higher heat for about 3 minutes and then added the kale.  I put in a third of the package and after it wilted down, I added more.  After it was all in and wilted down I stirred it around to mix everything together.

I tasted it and it seemed slightly bitter to me. So I turned to the internet for the answer and sure enough it was there.  Unfortunately the way to reduce the bitterness is to blanch the kale first or to rub the leaves with salt, olive oil and lemon juice while still raw.

Guess what?  I added some salt and some lemon juice and it really did reduce the bitterness.  This is a very healthy dishe to serve;  Tonight it is the side dish to my tuna, fennel and cannolini bean salad.

English: Canned marinated artichoke hearts

Marinated Artichoke Hearts

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