Gleanings of Wheat

Here's my game plan for the next week: Chicken Jalfrezi Vegetable Samosas Shrimp and Pineapple Curry Garlic and Cilantro Naan Bread **11/22/10 update** I made everything on the list but the shrimp & pineapple curry. Outcome? Delicious. Seriously. I don't generally like cooked vegetables but the samosas were amazing, especially with the dipping sauce.

At last, a real post about food! Tonight for dinner I grilled some chicken breasts after seasoning them with salt, pepper, and a touch of cilantro. For sides, I cheated and used Uncle Ben's Santa Fe rice, sliced some potatoes and threw them in the oven till they were a bit crispy. By the way, those were seasoned with salt, pepper, cilantro, and thyme. To top the chicken I sliced 3 cloves of garlic, mixed them with some sliced mushrooms, and threw that in a skillet with about a cup of milk; cook those puppies over medium heat until the milk is thick like a sauce. If it won't thicken, add a tablespoon of flour. Here's how it turned out: The chicken? Yum. The potatoes? Yum. The rice was a tad dry, and the mushrooms were nothing to scream over.

Ok, I did this dinner like a week ago, I just keep forgetting to post. I was feeling incredibly lazy when I did this, and it turned out great. I had some frozen (uncooked) jumbo shrimp in the freezer that I wanted to use up, but I didn't really have anything that felt like it went with it. Problem, yes? Not for super me! I ended up dicing one small onion, mincing two cloves of garlic & browning them in a skillet. Then I added sliced green bell peppers and cooked that for a few minutes. Pull it out and keep it near. Add the shrimp to the same skillet, sprinkle with lemon juice, once the shrimp were almost opacque I added the pepper, garlic, onion mixture back to the skillet. Meanwhile I cooked up some white rice. Once everything was done I threw it all on a plate with some lettuce & topped that with oilve oil & vinegar dressing. Super yum, guys, super yum. AND it looked pretty. And it only took about 20 minutes. Sorry about the lame picture, I couldn't find my...

I saw the title of this recipe and literally held my breath. I don't think I've been so excited over a recipe in a long time. 2 Tbs. unsalted butter 6-8 cloves garlic 1/2 cup chopped onion 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth 2 cups water 9 oz. fresh or frozen cheese tortellini 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, with the liquid 10 oz. fresh spinach, stemmed and coarsely chopped 8-10 fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped 1 egg 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese salt and pepper to taste In large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and saute until fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Add the broth and water, bring to a boil. Add the tortellini and cook halfway (about 5 min. if using frozen, less for fresh pasta). Add the tomatoes and their liquid, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook just until the pasta is tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in the spinach and basil and cook until wilted, about 1-2 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg, parmesan, and salt and pepper. Drizz...

The local grocery had 1.5 pounds of snow crab legs on sale recently for just under $10 so I picked up some and threw them in my freezer until I successfully located a recipe that seemed interesting. Crab is nice, but just having some lemon and butter gets a bit boring so I was looking for a twist. I found that twist over at AllRecipes . As excited as I was about this recipe it didn't turn out well. If I had thought about it ahead of time I would have removed the meat from the shells and just put it in the butter mixture that way. Sadly, I did not think ahead and the way the recipe calls for the legs to be cooked didn't allow the crab to absorb any of the flavor and made the shells incredibly difficult to remove. Obviously since the crab had already been cooked I just had to thaw it and then add it to the garlic mixture once the corn was cooked. 3 1/2 pounds Alaskan king crab legs with shell 6 ears fresh corn 1 1/2 cups butter 3 teaspoons minced garlic 1/8 teaspoon crushed red p...

Experiment time. Basically I grabbed two spices out of the cabinet and threw them on some chicken. The house was split on how it turned out. 1 onion, thinly sliced 1 chicken breast per person 1 tbsp ground ginger 1 tbsp ground nutmeg 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 1 tsp lemon juice evoo for drizzling Coat a skillet with evoo over medium-high heat. Add onions and lemon juice and cook until onions carmelize. Remove and keep warm. Next sprinkle ginger and nutmeg on chicken; add to skillet with the garlic. Cook 5-7 minutes, or until cooked through.

I found this post over at Culinary Musings and since I have a profound love of garlic I figured I'd post it. 1. A Clove for Courage The Greeks and Romans believed that garlic increased courage. Greek commanders fed garlic to soldiers before battle, perhaps making their breath as lethal as their weapons. Roman soldiers also ate garlic for courage, but their commanders went a step further. Romans planted fields of garlic in conquered countries. They wanted the courageous effect of garlic to transfer from the garlic field to the battlefield – hopefully to Roman soldiers only, not their enemies. 2. Strength in Numbers (of cloves, that is) Many cultures believed that garlic increased strength and stamina. Greek Olympic athletes chewed it for stamina before competition. Both Greek and Roman soldiers ate garlic before and during battles. The Egyptian laborers who built the pyramids ate it as part of their daily ration. One year, unusual flooding on the Nile caused a shortage of garlic, s...