Panurge,
I think what you are referring to as a “head” of garlic is usually called a bulb of garlic. Either way, it is wise to confirm that you don’t just mean a clove of garlic.
Bulb. Yes. That’s what I mean. Bulb. Possibly more than one. Baked garlic taste great. I use it in hummus, too. Bulb.
Today I’m making chili on the stove. It’s very spicy- the tomatoes were chili-ready, I added a lot of cumin, cayenne, and chili powder, and then added minced chipotle peppers with 3 teaspoons of the adobo sauce they came in. It’s nicely smoky, but I think there will need to be lots of milk involved in the eating of it.
I’m also going to make buttermilk cornbread muffins from scratch, and I need to find something to do with these bananas- they’re getting giraffey.
Well, you could say “head” too. In fact, I’d say “head” before I’d say 'bulb".
I made up some oyster stew over the weekend, perfect New England comfort food, I didn’t measure portions, just did it “to taste”
ingredients;
canned oysters, drained (one can per person)
butter
Worsterchire sauce
whole milk
melt the butter in the bottom of the pot, and drop in the oysters, let them cook until the edges get curly, then add in the worsterchire sauce, finally pour in enough milk to cover the oysters, add in a little more milk to fully submerge the oysters, cook on medium heat until the milk starts to foam a little around the edges of the pot, remove from heat and serve, or to make it truly stellar, let it sit in the refrigerator overnight and serve the next day
simple, basic classic New England comfort food
I’m going to try another offshoot of Oyster stew tonight, as I still have some whole milk to use up, I’m making the following alterations;
cook the butter/oyster/worstechire sauce mix in a cast-iron Dutch Oven
add in a couple cans of Maine Mussels as well
the next question though is do I cook the stew in the Dutch Oven, or do I transfer the oysters and mussels and butter mixture to a stainless pot and add the milk to that? Milk is a weak acid, and acids tend to damage the seasoning of CI…
Gumbo!
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
3-4 ribs celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 c frozen sliced okra
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
2 c cooked chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 lb andouille sausage, peeled and sauteed, sliced into bite size pieces
6 c chicken stock, or shrimp stock
1 tbs Creole seasoning, like Tony Chachere’s
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp cayenne
salt and pepper
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium low heat, and sprinkle the flour in. Stir constantly and cook until roux is the color of peanut butter, about 15-20 minutes. Don’t burn it!
Add in the veggies, and stir occasionally and cook about 15 minutes, until veggies get a bit mushy. Add the tomatoes, stock and seasoning. Add the meat, but not the shrimp. Simmer about an hour, then add the shrimp. Cook for about 10 minutes, until no longer pink.
Serve over hot white rice, with chopped green onions for garnish. Ooh-wee!
Alice you and I were doing the same thing EXACTLY – except I made mine on Saturday. I just noticed those canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the grocery a couple weeks ago and was dying to use them in something. I used about five in my big stockpot of chili, and it came out hot but not searing. This time I added some canelli beans for fun, in addition to red and black beans, plus some barley because it seemed a little thin.
I also made cornbread, with buttermilk of course. I’ve been throwing in some flax seed meal lately, which gives it a nice texture, not to mention the nice Omega-3 my family doesn’t realize they’re eating!
Here’s my white chili recipe, which always gets good reviews.
White Chili
northern beans
can diced green chiles
can white kernel corn
canned vegetable broth
onion
cilantro
chicken breast
cumin
oregano
thyme
plain yogurt
Cook in crockpot on LOW for 8 to 10 hours.
About 30 minutes before chili will be done, in a large skillet, poach chicken breast in broth until just tender, about 15 minutes. Cool and cut chicken into bite-size pieces. Reserve chicken and broth.
When beans are tender, remove some of the beans and puree in the food processor. Return mashed beans to crockpot and add the chicken pieces. Stir well.
If cooking on LOW, change setting to HIGH. Add some of the reserved broth as needed to thin the chili to desired consistency (chili should be thick). Cook until chicken is heated through, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve topped with plain yogurt
Oh, let me give you my Moroccan Braised Beef - it’s more like a stew over couscous, but it’s completely awesome.
2 1/2 pounds boneless chuck roast, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 cups chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
1 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup dry Sherry
2 cups beef broth
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1 1/2 cups golden raisins
Salt and pepper the meat and brown in a bit of olive oil. Transfer meat or something to bowl. (Pro tip - put it in the lid of your pot! You’re gonna need it anyway, so you don’t dirty a dish.) Put a bit more oil in if you need it and brown your onions. Add garlic and spices and stir for one minute. Add wine and sherry, boil until reduced to a glaze. Add broth, tomatoes with juice, raisins, and reserved beef. Bring to boil and simmer until sauce is thick and beef is tender, about an hour and a half - I like to cover it for maybe 2/3 of the cooking time. Serve over couscous.
Since getting a food processor (well, technically the wife got it for Xmas, but I use it more), I’ve been doing pureed soup. Potato leek is nice, of course, as is carrot-ginger.
But this is the favorite-
Roasted Squash and Sweet Potato Puree
Roast a couple of acorn or butternut squash and a sweet potato- you want a ratio of about 2 parts squash to 1 part sweet potato. And by roast, I mean, cut the squash in half, clean the insides, lightly coat with oil, face down in a dish, about 45 minutes at 375. The sweet potato can go in the same dish, cut in chunks about 1".
Once those have been roasting a bit, start on the rest.
In a stockpot or dutch oven, brown (with olive oil):
some chopped onion- I like onion, so I use about a tennis ball sized one for two acorns or one large butternut
some garlic- several cloves, to taste
after the onion is browned, add some carrrots (1-3) or maybe celery
add about a tsp to tbsp of salt, preferably some sea salt, to draw out some of the juices
a bay leaf or two
spice it up-
a tsp or so of any combo of the following
tumeric, curry, coriander, cardamom, cayenne, paprika, fennel seed, black pepper, dried sage or thyme, smoked sea salt (some spices are fleeting and should only be added just before serving- spanish paprika for one)
once the veggies are soft, add a quart or more of veggie broth (or chicken broth- but this I try to keep it vegan) and simmer, adding in the roasted squash and potato once they are quite soft
simmer for twenty minutes or so, adjusting the spices to your taste
puree in batches in the Cuisie, but add about a cup of raw cashews, and make sure they really get chopped fine
return to batches of puree to another pot, to keep warm and to blend the different batches together.
oh, don’t forget to take the bay leaf out BEFORE pureeing.