Why to bake garlic?

As I can hardly resist to add more than 2 cloves of garlic to almost every salty meal, this question does not make too much sense for me. What do you mean by that? Why not baking garlic?

For turning the page to very serious problems, baked garlic is a good idea for eliminating the surplus of water and to make its cooking smoothly. 

The following tip I got while looking reading my Middle Eastern recipes about how to prepare tahini. Thus, I started the cooking by unpeeling the garlic and placing it on the tray of the oven for about 10 minutes. 

The next stop, in the mixer, together with the other ingredients of the tahini.

Sweet treat from Ashkelon

Guess what is this? Onion? Garlic? It has bulbs and 2 cloves, and has a taste of sweet onion and mild garlic?

It is cheap and I found it at one of the Oriental market where I am going at least once the week for new sources of inspiration for both my cooking and writing.

I took note carefully of the Latin name - Allium Ascalonium - of this colourful vegetable - I loved a lot the shades of red brown.

The short history of it is the following: Ascalonium is the latin name of the city of Ashkelon, situated i the West of the state of Israel. It was brough to Europe by the Crusaders but it is still not very much known and used in recipes. 

We used it for the mix of vegetables used for rice pasta, together with mushrooms and oil, and despite the worries of some anti-spicey food members of the family, the final taste is very fresh and pleasant. Maybe the most difficult part of the relationship with those shallots, you need to make some efforts for peeling it. But, don't worry, you will not need to cry too much.

Pasta c(o)urse

We rarely miss a week without pasta. In fact, I would like to, but the little hungry monsters do not and I should follow their wishes.

But, it is not enough to prepare the simple pasta with cheese recipe. They expect some garlic, tomatoes, special spices and new recipes ideas every week.

This time I tried something amazing (for me): eggplant with fried almonds. And, of course, some small pieces of garlic.

The taste was indeed completely new and revolutionary but children do not like revolutions and I was punished to do my "classical" recipe next time.

Maybe my readers will appreciate more the gift of creative cooking.

Paprika stuffed with quinoa

Quinoa is relatively newly entered into my food universe. Openly speaking I don't like it too much, as I did not find (yet) its specific taste. From my point of view, it is like eating nothing. 

Last week, I wanted to diversify a bit our menu - but still keeping the main vegetarian line. After reading various posts and closing a bit my eyes in order to imagine some interesting combinations, it resulted the following wonder:

boiled quinoa - max. 15 minutes

finely chopped mushrooms fried together with equally finelly chopped garlic

quinoa+mushrooms+garlic are fried together with avocado oil

The fresh paprika is delicately stuffed with the fried mixture and put in oven for another 15 minutes.

To be served fresh and warm. 

Neapolitan Eggplants

Openly speaking, at the first sight you don't know exactly what it is all about in this picture...Also openly speaking, I didn't know exactly what wonderful food I am eating when I had the first bite of this.

I started to cook eggplants only a couple of months ago - due to an unhappy allergic experience a couple of years ago - but since then I love to introduce it on my menu at least every month.

This week, for the Shabbat menu, I wanted something new and thus, I tried another recommendation from The Classic Kosher Cooking, by Sara Finkel (p.142).

I did some changes but overall I kept the main narrative.

What do you need:

2 moderate eggplants

1 teaspoon salt 

1/3 cup oil

2 small red onions finely diced

3 gloves garlic, minced

1 cup grated Emmentaler

I cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, sprinkle with salt and put in the oven for around 30 minutes. After, I cut out the pulp, chop it and fried together with the oil and onion for 10 minutes. I added the cheese, the garlic and the salt for another 5 minutes, then put together in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. The taste is so wonderful that you don't know exactly what you are eating. 

A real pleasure!

Rice noodles with tofu

If you are in a hurry, as me - always -, but hungry and only 15 free minutes, I recommend the following dish:
1-2 pack of rice noodle
3 fresh tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
100 gr. garden beans
100 gr. silk tofu
You can share with another person and you can be friends for ever.

Smoked tofu with tomatoes and garlic

The same source of inspiration, but an easier variant. To be included in the same category of spring recipes.

Here it is, for making happy 2 persons:

Smoked tofu

1 tomato, sliced

3 cloves garlic

100 gr. Garam Masala

3 tablespoon of oil

The basic architectural structure of the products - in various combinations, mine was a very stable one - is cooked in the oily heated pan for 16-20 minutes, at 100C. 

If you add a fresh lemonade with mint and some brown sugar, the meal will be even more delightful.

Baba Ghanoush: Need a new try

I used to be a very spoiled kid: when I wanted something, I didn't neet too much time to waite for. Professionally wise, when I wanted to reach something, I set up objectives able to be fulfilled, based on my experience and my skills.

With cooking...well, it is a different story. First, I need more experience. Second, I need more attention and focus. Third, all I want is to put some new skills on trial, while trying to make my happy family happier. 

The first objective is to get more experience, using the relative window of opportunity of enjoying, for the first time in my life, the free time to spend with my family. 

The last week, I wanted to try the Baba Ghanoush, following the recipe from the same book I am reading and following carefully, at least for the next month or so. 

The first step was to go buying:

2 big eggplants, of around 750 gr.

Tahini paste - out of which I used around 80 ml.

Garlic - 3 finely chopped cloves

1 bunch of fresh parsley

Olive oil

1 lemon - to be turned into juice

Black pepper

The longest time was dedicated to cooking the eggplants - almost one hour, at the oven heated at 250 degrees. After, the flesh is separated from the cover and put in the mixer, together with the garlic, tahini, pepper, salt and pepper. After another 10 minutes, you have a paste, where do you add and mix the rest of the ingredients. With some fresh pita, you can have a taste of the colourful Middle East.

My problem was that I had too much eggplant and not too much Tahini, for example. Or garlic.

Also, you need to eat it very fast, after maximum two days, as eggplants need to be consumed fresh.

Will try once again soon! Maybe another recipe and with some advices guidance. And looking for a place in Berlin to have a tasty experience...

The rice recommendation of the week

For almost one year, many time ago, I ate rice almost daily. Remembering these times, I tried myself various imaginary receipes. 

Here is the most recent:

Boiled rice

1 avocado

chopped garlic, to taste

1 zucchini, chopped and fried in the pan with olive oil

salt, to taste taste

The boiled rice, plus avocado, garlic and fried zucchini are fried together in the pan, for maximum 10 minutes. To be served separately or together with other meals or salads.

Enjoy your meal and have a happy eating week!