Tangled Branches: Satiated

riveting tales of how we sustain ourselves

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

More Green Garlic

A couple of ideas featuring green garlic I tried out over the weekend.

Rosemary Chicken Skewers

I first had these several years ago, then lost the recipe. There's a similar one here, with good photos of the process. I didn't fiddle with aluminum foil on the ends of the skewers but I'll admit it might make a nicer presentation than blackened rosemary leaves. We're not that fussy for weeknight family dinners.

Step one is to find some straight woody branches of rosemary to use as skewers. I stripped the leaves off the lower part of the stem and left a tuft of leaves at the top.

Cut up some boneless skinless chicken thighs into kebab-size pieces. Finely chop rosemary leaves, lemon thyme, parsley, and green garlic. Toss the chicken pieces with the herbs, a small amount of olive oil, and salt and lemon pepper.

Cut a few shield-shaped pieces of onion to mingle with the chicken on the skewers.

Now for the fiddly part. Poke holes in the chicken pieces with a metal skewer and then thread them on the rosemary twigs, with a piece of onion between a few chicken pieces.

Grill until the chicken is cooked through.

I served this on naan with a yogurt and chile sauce, but I think the sauce obscured the flavor of the rosemary. The rosemary is really the whole point here. Next time I'd be inclined to serve this with salsa verde and maybe rice instead of bread.


Mushroom Omelet with Green Garlic and Tarragon

This was a Plan B dinner after our Plan A grilled steak got rained out.

First make the mushroom filling. Slice about 8 oz. of ordinary grocery store mushrooms. Thinly slice the bottom portion (where it's solid, before the leaves branch off) of one or two green garlic stalks crosswise. Finely chop the leaves of about 3 sprigs of tarragon. Chop together the top part of the green garlic with an equal amount of parsley. Heat olive oil in a skillet, then add mushrooms, the sliced green garlic, and the chopped tarragon. Cook until the mushrooms soften and give off their juices, then add chopped parsley and green garlic leaves. Season generously with salt and pepper to taste, and continue to cook until the mushroom juices are reduced a bit.

Remove the mushrooms from the skillet, and make an omelet. When the omelet is almost set, add the mushrooms on top. Fold over and serve.

There were too many mushrooms to fit in the omelet, but we liked them so much that we ate the rest of the filling on toasted slices of baguette.

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posted by Entangled at 9:29 AM 0 comments

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Pepper and Egg Sandwiches

Tuesday's gazpacho (below) was served with fancied-up pepper and egg sandwiches. I think soups and sandwiches just automatically go together, although sometimes I just serve soup and bread (not as austere as it sounds).

What I did:

Sliced into long strips (about 1/2 inch wide) one and a half green bell peppers and some mixed (mild and hot) New Mexico style red peppers. Sliced half a yellow onion lengthwise, and a clove of garlic crosswise. Heated some olive oil in a non-stick skillet over fairly high heat and sauteed the vegetables quickly, so the peppers were cooked through, but not limp and soggy. Lowered the heat and stirred in 3 beaten eggs. Cooked until set, seasoned with salt.

Then (here comes the fancy part) I split and toasted some squares of La Brea Pain Rustique, drizzled a small amount of leftover Rosemary/Garlic-Flavored Olive Oil on the bread, and arranged the peppers and eggs into a sandwich.

This turned out really well, and it was serendipitous. Trying to clean out the fridge, spotted the leftover flavored olive oil, and thought "Hmmmm..."

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posted by Entangled at 6:37 PM 0 comments