garlic | Allison Cooks Alton's Good Eats

Posts Tagged ‘garlic’

Episode 147 – “Olive Me”

Posted: March 7, 2021 in Season 9
Tags: alton brown, appetizer, bread, citrus, dip, garlic, good eats, lemon, loaf, marinade, marinated, olive loaf, olives, snack, spread, tapenade

It may seem as though I have given up on this blog, but I truly have not. The days just seem to fly by with me having the best intentions of taking time to write, but not actually finding the time to do so. Or, maybe I just need to prioritize differently. I believe this episode will close out the recipes for season nine, as there is only one more episode from this season, and it is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Good Eats. The recipes from this episode feature olives, which I adore, so I knew this one would be fun for me.

According to Alton, olive quality is mostly dependent upon the method of their production. Raw (green) olives are very bitter, so require a soak in lye prior to brining. Ripe (black) olives do not require a lye soak and can go straight to an oil cure or a salt brine. When you have a jar of olives at home, be sure to always keep the olives submerged in their brine; if you need to top off the brine, you can always add a mixture of 1 T salt dissolved in a pint of water.

Citrus Marinated Olives

Marinated olives are first in this episode. To make these, you’ll first need a pound of green olives with pits. Rinse your olives in water and then submerge them in water for at least five minutes, and up to five hours; five hours is best.

When your olives are done soaking, combine the following ingredients in a lidded plastic tub: 1 minced clove of garlic, 1/2 C extra-virgin olive oil, 1 T red wine vinegar, the zest and juice of a medium lemon, 1/2 t red pepper flakes, 1/2 t dried tarragon, and 1/4 t curry powder.

Marinade ingredients: garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, dried tarragon, and curry powder.

Drain the soaked olives and add them to the container, giving them a good shake to coat them in the marinade. Let the olives sit at room temperature for a day, and then refrigerate for a couple more days before serving.

Soaked/drained olives added to marinade.

We snacked on Alton’s olives as an appetizer before dinner. I found that I needed to remove them from the refrigerator a bit in advance because the marinade is quite oil-heavy and would sort of congeal when chilled. I recommend serving these olives with napkins handy since they are quite oily. These olives pack a citrus punch and have just a little heat from the red pepper flakes. My problem with these olives was that I felt they lacked some salt. Obviously, the purpose of soaking the olives in water was to remove their salt before marinating, so I’m guessing they would retain some salinity if soaked for a shorter period; I soaked mine for the full five hours. I think I personally would prefer a little more salt to these guys, so I would like to try them again with a shorter water soak. I also found that my olives were a little less firm than I would prefer, but I’m going to blame that on the olives I used. Many of the grocery stores near me typically have olive bars, where you can mix and match a variety of olives to purchase, but all of these olive bars disappeared with Covid. The selection of olives I could find that were not already marinated was extremely limited, so I had to settle for some green olives without pits, while Alton’s recipe specifically calls for olives with pits. I’m guessing olives with pits would have a firmer texture.

Tapenade

An olive tapenade is the second recipe of this episode. To make Alton’s tapenade, place the following ingredients in the bowl of a food processor: 1/2 pound mixed/pitted/rinsed olives, 2 T extra-virgin olive oil, 1 T lemon juice, 1 small minced clove of garlic, 2 T capers, 2-3 fresh basil leaves, and 2 anchovy fillets (rinsed if salt-soaked).

Mixed pitted olives, rinsed and placed in food processor.

Process the olive mixture for about a minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Transfer the tapenade to a bowl and serve with bread or crackers. We ate Alton’s tapenade as an appetizer with crackers, cheese, and meat.

This is a really flavorful tapenade that comes together in mere minutes. If you are leery of the anchovies, I can say that you would not know they are in the tapenade unless someone told you, but I think you would sure miss them if they weren’t there. That being said, if you’re a vegetarian, you could always omit them. This would be a super easy appetizer to make to serve to guests, and you could even make it in advance, which is always a bonus! Now, if you want to go on to make Alton’s final olive recipe from this episode, you can reserve 1/3 C of your tapenade to make his…

Olive Loaf

Yep, in the episode, Alton uses some of his homemade tapenade to make his olive bread. Or, you could always just use a purchased tapenade, though it probably wouldn’t taste as good. To make the bread, place 17 ounces of flour in the bowl of a food processor with 1 T baking powder and pulse to combine.

Flour and baking powder in food processor.

Add 1/3 C of olive tapenade and pulse four times.

Using a whisk, combine 1 1/4 t Kosher salt, 1/2 C olive oil, 1 C milk, 2 beaten eggs, and 1 T honey in a large bowl. Stir in 12 ounces of rinsed/pitted/chopped olives.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until wet.

Dry ingredients added to wet ingredients.

Spray a loaf pan with oil and line it with a parchment “sling.”

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 375 degrees for 75 to 80 minutes, or until the bread has an internal temperature of 210 degrees.

Remove the bread from the pan and allow it to cool before slicing.

We thoroughly enjoyed this bread. It came out moist and loaded with olives. Some reviewers claimed this bread was too salty, but we did not find that to be the case at all. I would definitely make this bread again, especially if you are an olive lover like I am.

I have to share that I am super excited because I discovered a few days ago that Alton will be touring later this year, and I was able to purchase tickets. If you have not seen his live show, it is a lot of fun!

Episode 111 – “Sandwich-craft”

Posted: November 1, 2018 in Season 8
Tags: alton brown, appetizer, baguette, bell pepper, bread, cream cheeese, cuban, egg, garlic, good eats, hoagie, mustard, olive, onion, pan bagnat, panini, pickle, roasted, roll, sandwich, spread, sub, submarine, tuna, vegetable, vegetarian, vinaigrette, zucchini

This episode of Good Eats sees Alton in the kitchen with his “nephew,” striving to whip up some kid-friendly sandwiches. Alton has four rules for making sandwiches:

Soft fillings and spreads pair best with soft breads.
A barrier (mayo, butter, oil, etc.) should be used to keep bread from getting water-logged from wet ingredients.
The order of sandwich ingredients matters – slippery ingredients are not to be placed next to each other.
Quality of bread is crucial, and you should only utilize bread that you would happily consume plain. Pre-sliced bread tends to be loaded with preservatives, so should be avoided.

Pan Bagnat

The first sandwich Alton makes is a pan bagnat, which translates to “wet bread.” What is a pan bagnat? Basically, it is a French version of a sub sandwich, consisting of several layers of ingredients. This sandwich is designed to be made a couple hours before consumption, as it is best to let the flavors mingle. This sandwich starts with a vinaigrette made by placing 1/2 t Dijon mustard in a bowl, and whisking in 1 T red wine vinegar, 1/2 t Kosher salt, and several grinds of pepper. While continuing to whisk, drizzle in 3 T olive oil to form an emulsion. Set the dressing aside while you build the sandwich.

Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, Kosher salt, and pepper.

3 T olive oil

Dressing after whisking in olive oil to form an emulsion.

This sandwich serves four people, and I only needed enough for two, so I cut the recipe in half. Bread-wise, for four servings, you want to get a 16-inch baguette. Slice the loaf in half horizontally and use your fingers to dig out trenches in the center of each half of bread, as if you are creating bread canoes. You can discard the removed bread, or use it to make bread crumbs.

Half a loaf of bread for two big sandwiches.

Bread split in half horizontally.

Trenches scooped out of each half of bread.

Fill the trench in the bottom half of bread with 12 ounces of drained tuna fish (you can use either oil or water-packed tuna).

Bottom bread trench filled with tuna fish.

Next, add a layer of 1/3-inch thick green bell pepper slices, followed by a layer of 1/3-inch thick red onion slices.

Tuna topped with green bell pepper.

Tuna topped with green bell pepper and red onions.

Next, add two hard boiled eggs, thinly sliced.

Tuna topped with green bell pepper, red onions, and hard boiled eggs.

On top of the eggs, sprinkle on 1 C of pitted/chopped Kalamata olives.

Tuna topped with green bell pepper, red onions, hard boiled egg, and Kalamata olives.

Top the olives with 4-5 slices of very ripe tomato and drizzle on the red wine vinaigrette, letting the dressing drizzle down between the ingredient layers.

Tuna topped with green bell pepper, red onions, hard boiled egg, Kalamata olives, and tomato.

Tuna topped with green bell pepper, red onions, hard boiled egg, Kalamata olives, tomato, and vinaigrette.

Place the top bread on top of the sandwich. Wrap the sandwich very tightly in plastic wrap; you will need to overlap sheets of plastic to have a sheet wide enough for the length of the sandwich. Once wrapped, let the sandwich sit at room temperature for two hours before slicing and eating.

Top layer of bread put on.

Top layer of bread put on and sandwich wrapped tightly in plastic for two hours.

I made this sandwich last Friday, as we were taking a short road trip out of town. The sandwich sat in the car for the duration of our drive, and was then ready to eat for dinner when we arrived at our vacation rental.

Alton’s pan bagnat. Excuse the poor lighting in this photo, as our vacation rental had horrible lighting.

Personally, I really liked this sandwich, but Ted doesn’t like canned tuna, so he was not a huge fan. He did, however, say that he would really like this sandwich if it were made with a different protein. Basically, if you’ve ever had a niçoise salad, this sandwich is that salad in sandwich form. Alton did not follow his second sandwich rule of using a moisture barrier with this recipe, so I wondered if the sandwich would end up soggy from the tuna, tomato, olives, and dressing, but it really was not soggy at all. What I liked most about this sandwich were its contrasting flavors, colors, and textures. The veggies gave the sandwich a crunch, the tomato and dressing kept the sandwich from being dry, and the eggs gave a slight creamy texture. Flavor-wise, the vinaigrette and olives were tangy, bright and salty, while the red onions gave a bit of spice/heat. The tomato added fruitiness and the tuna contributed a slight fishy flavor. It was also convenient to be able to make this sandwich ahead. I will definitely make a version of this sandwich again, though I likely will substitute something else (chicken salad?) for the tuna unless I am the only one eating it.

Cuban Sandwich

The second sandwich recipe in this episode is for Alton’s take on the classic Cuban sandwich. To make Cuban sandwiches, slice hoagie rolls in half horizontally and liberally spread yellow mustard on both halves of the rolls.

Split hoagies.

Hoagie rolls spread with yellow mustard.

Top the mustard with a thin layer of baked ham, followed by a thin layer of roast pork (I made a small pork roast for these sandwiches).

Hoagie rolls spread with yellow mustard and topped with ham.

Ham topped with roast pork.

Top the pork with two slices of provolone or Swiss cheese (I used Swiss) and two long, thin slices of Kosher dill pickle.

Ham topped with roast pork and Swiss cheese.

Pickles on top.

Top of hoagie placed on.

You can wrap the sandwiches in plastic and save them for later, or you can cook them right away. To cook the sandwiches, brush/spread them with butter and press them in a panini press for about 10 minutes.

Cuban sandwiches on the panini press.

Cuban sandwiches after 10 minutes on the panini press.

If you do not have a panini press, you can still press the sandwiches by wrapping three fireplace bricks in foil. Place the bricks on a sheet pan. Place three more bricks (they do not need to be wrapped in foil) on a second sheet pan. Place the two sheet pans of bricks in a 500-degree oven for an hour. Remove the sheet pans from the oven and brush the foil-covered bricks with butter. Place the sandwiches on the foil-covered bricks and brush the sandwich tops with butter. Place the sheet pan of unwrapped bricks on top of the sandwiches and let the sandwiches press between the bricks for about 10 minutes.

Alton’s Cuban sandwich.

I really enjoy Cuban sandwiches because I love their zesty flavor, and I thought this was a great, fast version to make at home. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of roasting pork for this recipe, you could always substitute sliced turkey, or at least that is what Alton says. I’m sure some Cuban sandwich classicists would pooh-pooh Alton’s version with provolone and turkey, but if it tastes good (and it does), who cares?

Roasted Vegetable Spread

The last recipe in this episode is for a vegetarian spread that you could use on any sandwich, or just on crackers or bread. Preheat your oven to 400. While the oven heats, toss the following vegetables with 1-2 T olive oil: 1 sliced zucchini, 1 sliced (into rings) red bell pepper, 1 sliced (into rings) onion, and 4-5 crushed cloves of garlic.

Vegetables for veggie spread: onion, zucchini, garlic, and red bell pepper.

Zucchini, red bell pepper, onion, and garlic tossed with olive oil.

Spread the veggies on a foil-lined sheet pan and sprinkle them with Kosher salt. Roast the vegetables for 45 minutes, stirring them occasionally.

Zucchini, red bell pepper, onion, and garlic tossed with olive oil, spread on a sheet pan, and sprinkled with Kosher salt.

Remove the vegetables from the oven and let them cool to room temperature.

Vegetables after roasting for 45 minutes.

Place the veggies in a food processor, along with eight ounces of cream cheese, and pulse to combine.

Roasted vegetables in the food processor with cream cheese.

Alton’s vegetable spread, served with bread slices.

Alton recommends serving his spread on soft bread (see sandwich rule number 1 above). This spread has a sweet veggie flavor from the caramelized vegetables. While I would not be able to identify zucchini in this spread, the flavors of red bell pepper, onion, and garlic are easily identifiable. I did feel that the spread could use a bit more Kosher salt, though. We enjoyed this as an appetizer on sliced bread, though I can attest it is also good on crackers. This is a recipe that would be great to keep in mind for when you are cleaning out your produce drawer, as you could roast a variety of leftover vegetables and have a different spread each time. I plan to make this again the next time we have leftover veggies.

Episode 103 – “Toast Modern”

Posted: July 24, 2018 in Season 7
Tags: alton brown, beer, bread, breakfast, bruschetta, custard, french toast, garlic, good eats, rarebit, toast, welsh

Unintentionally, I’ve gotten a bit behind on this blog lately. It’s time to get back in the swing of things, and get back to making more of Alton’s good eats. Summer heat has hit us lately, so I have been making lots of light dishes (like gazpacho and summer rolls) that do not require turning on the oven. After episode 104, I will officially have finished cooking my way through seven seasons of Good Eats, which will put me at the half-way point of this project; I still have a long way to go, but I’m getting there!

French Toast

Alton’s version of French toast begins the night before you plan to have it for breakfast. Prior to bed, set out eight slices of bread, sliced 1/2″ thick; this will allow the bread to dry out overnight.

Eight slices of bread, set out overnight.

Before bed you will also make the custard by combining 1 C half-and-half, 2 T warm honey, 1/4 t Kosher salt, and 3 eggs. Set the custard in the refrigerator overnight.

Adding warm honey to half-and-half.

Eggs and Kosher salt added to half-and-half.

Whisked custard.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 375 and pour the custard into a pie or cake pan.

Chilled custard poured into pie plate.

Place two slices of the air-dried bread into the custard, soaking them for 30 seconds on each side.

Two slices of air-dried bread soaking in custard for 30 seconds per side.

Transfer the soaked slices of bread to a rack over a sheet pan, letting them sit for at least two minutes; Alton says this step is key, as it allows the custard to fully penetrate the bread, and any excess custard can drip away.

Soaked bread draining on a rack over a sheet pan.

Next, preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. Ideally, you want your skillet to be at 350 degrees for cooking, which I was able to check with an infrared thermometer. If you do not have an infrared thermometer, you can test your skillet with some butter; if it foams when you add it to the skillet, it is ready.

Skillet preheated to ~350.

Once your skillet is hot, butter the skillet and add your two soaked bread slices, allowing them to cook until golden brown on both sides.

Buttered skillet, ready for bread.

Soaked bread added to buttered skillet.

Soaked bread cooked until golden on both sides.

While your toast cooks, repeat the soaking/draining steps with two more slices of bread. Transfer the cooked toast to your rack over a sheet pan. Continue soaking, draining, and cooking until all of your toast has been cooked. Finally, place your rack of toast in the oven for five minutes before serving with butter, fruit, syrup, or whatever floats your boat.

Toast in the oven for 5 minutes.

French toast with butter and maple syrup.

In the episode, Alton said that the dual cooking method (skillet and oven) results in French toast that is tender on the inside and crispy on the outside, and he was right. His French toast is very lightly sweetened and has a richness without being dense. Prepping the custard and bread the night before makes morning prep pretty easy, and finishing the toast in the oven means you can have everyone’s toast ready at the same time – no eating in shifts! Great French toast recipe!

Bruschetta

According to Alton, bruschetta should really only consist of five ingredients: bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Alton’s recipe begins with slicing a narrow loaf of Italian or French bread on the bias, and about 3/4″ thick. Toast the bread under a broiler for about two minutes per side, or until golden.

Sliced bread, ready to be toasted under the broiler.

Bread under the broiler.

While the toast is hot, rub it with a head of garlic that has been cut in half to expose the cloves.

Toast, to be rubbed with garlic.

Rubbing toast with garlic.

Brush the toast with some good olive oil, and sprinkle on some pepper and coarse salt.

Garlic toast brushed with olive oil.

Salt and pepper sprinkled on.

Bruschetta with soup.

I enjoyed Alton’s bruschetta as a side to a cauliflower soup. Although Alton’s recipe is incredibly simple, it is quite delicious in its simplicity and makes a great side dish. The key with a recipe like this is to use high-quality ingredients. I will caution that this bruschetta packs a big punch of garlic, but I love garlic, so that’s not a problem for me. When I was 15, my mom and I traveled to Atlanta to spectate at the 1996 Olympics. While there, we stayed with a family who shared with us a version of bruschetta they had eaten while in Italy, and that version is still my favorite. For their recipe, you rubbed toasted bread with a raw garlic clove and dipped the bread into good olive oil, followed by grated Parmesan. After that, you topped the bread with a few leaves of fresh basil, a couple thin slices of campari tomato, salt, and pepper. I just like the added freshness from the basil and tomato.

Welsh Rarebit

Although I had heard of Welsh rarebit, I had never eaten it before making it for this episode. Alton made his rarebit in a camp stove by his fireplace, but I made mine on the stove over low heat. Maybe if I were making this recipe in December… Anyway, regardless of your vessel, begin by melting 2 T butter.

Melting 2 T butter.

Once the butter has melted, whisk in 2 T flour.

Flour added to butter.

Next, add 1 t Dijon mustard, 1 t Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 t Kosher salt, and 1/2 t pepper.

Dijon, Worcestershire, Kosher salt, and pepper added to sauce.

Whisk in 1/2 C good dark beer and 3/4 C heavy cream.

Dark beer for rarebit.

Dark beer and cream added to pan.

Once combined, gradually add 6 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese, a handful at a time.

Shredded cheddar.

Adding shredded cheese a handful at a time.

When the cheese is incorporated and the mixture is smooth, season the mixture with a few drops of hot sauce, to your taste.

Rarebit after adding cheese.

Seasoned with a few drops of hot sauce.

Spoon the sauce over four slices of toasted bread and enjoy (Alton prefers rye bread, but my bakery did not have any).

Welsh rarebit.

Since I have no other Welsh rarebits to compare this recipe to, I can only say that we liked it, though it isn’t a “pretty” meal. The type and quality of beer you use does matter, as the beer flavor is quite prominent in this dish, and I would like to experiment with some other beers to see which works best. To me, this really is a cold weather meal, as it is heavier comfort-like food. It seems like it would be a great dinner after a day of skiing or sledding. On that note, this would also be an easy camping meal. This recipe makes enough sauce for at least eight slices of toast, so I refrigerated the leftover sauce and reheated it gently on the stove a couple days later. This is another easy, tasty recipe, and it was fun to try a dish that I had only previously heard of.

Episode 78 – “Casserole Over”

Posted: April 11, 2017 in Season 6
Tags: alton brown, broccoli, casserole, chicken, curry, garlic, good eats, pot pie, puff pastry, shrimp

Broccoli Casserole

The 78th episode of Good Eats is all about America’s potluck favorite: the casserole. According to Alton, casseroles are either bound, layered, or scooped. The first casserole in this episode is a broccoli casserole, which is a bound casserole. This recipe begins with boiling a large pot of water and prepping 6 C of broccoli; you can use the florets, along with the stems, which you can peel and quarter.

Broccoli florets.

Broccoli stems, peeled and quartered.

Add a few pinches of Kosher salt to the boiling water and cook the broccoli for one minute, before placing it in ice water. This blanching process will help to preserve the broccoli’s green color.

Large pot of boiling water for broccoli.

Broccoli added to boiling water for 1 minute.

Broccoli in ice water after cooking for 1 minute.

Next, heat a large skillet with a pat of butter, adding 12 ounces of sliced mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until they are browned and tender, remove the pan from the heat, and add the cooled broccoli.

Large skillet with a pat of butter.

Mushrooms added to skillet with melted butter.

Mushrooms after cooking down.

Broccoli added to mushrooms.

To the broccoli/mushroom mixture, add 1/2 C mayo, 1/2 C yogurt, 1/3 C blue cheese dressing, 2 eggs, a rounded 1/2 C of shredded Cheddar cheese, a package of crumbled Ramen noodles, and the flavor packet from a package of Ramen.

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Spray a lidded casserole dish with non-stick spray (you want the smallest dish possible that will hold your casserole) and add your broccoli mixture.

Broccoli mixture placed in greased casserole dish.

Sprinkle the top of the casserole with black pepper and another rounded 1/2 C of shredded Cheddar.

Shredded Cheddar and black pepper on top of casserole.

Bake the casserole, covered, at 350 for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, remove the casserole lid and let the casserole continue to cook until the cheese forms a nice crust on top.

Casserole placed in the oven for 45 minutes.

Casserole after baking for 45 minutes.

Casserole after allowing crust to form.

Cool the casserole for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Alton’s broccoli casserole.

Of the recipes in this episode, this was the one I was most enthusiastic about because I happen to really love broccoli. We both thought this was good, though not super exciting. Really, though, isn’t that just the way of the casserole? The blue cheese flavor was more apparent than I thought it would be, which paired well with the broccoli. The broccoli maintained its texture and color, and the Ramen noodles bound the casserole together nicely. This is a good weeknight recipe for an easy dinner, and it does leave you with leftovers.

Curry Chicken Pot Pie

Alton’s version of chicken pot pie, a scooped casserole, is next up in the casserole episode, and it starts with sweating 1 C each of sliced celery and chopped onion in canola oil with a pinch of Kosher salt.

Celery and onion, sweating in canola oil with Kosher salt.

While your vegetables are sweating, roast 4 C of frozen vegetable mix in the oven until golden (I roasted my vegetables at 400 degrees).

Frozen vegetable blend, to be roasted.

Once the vegetables are softened, move them to the edges of the pan and add 2 T butter, 3 T flour, and 1 t curry powder to the center of the pan.

Butter added to the center of the pan.

Butter and flour added to the center of the pan.

Butter, flour, and curry powder added to the center of the pan.

Cook and stir until the mixture is smooth. Whisk into the pan 1 1/2 C chicken stock and 1/2 C milk that have been heated in the microwave until nearly boiling.

Chicken stock and milk, heated until hot.

Hot milk and chicken stock whisked into the pan.

Bring this mixture to a boil and add the roasted vegetables.

Roasted vegetables added to pan.

Stir in 2 C of cooked shredded chicken.

Shredded chicken.

Shredded chicken mixed in.

Place the chicken mixture into a foil-lined terra cotta dish; I used the base of my glazed tagine, so did not bother with lining it.

Pot pie mixture placed in terra cotta dish.

Place a thawed piece of puff pastry on a floured surface (you can see details of how to thaw puff pastry here), patting its seams. Lightly roll the pastry with a rolling pin to smooth it out, and perforate it with a fork. Using a biscuit cutter, cut 10-12 circles, and place the rounds 1/2″ apart on top of the casserole.

A sheet of puff pastry, thawing.

Perforated puff pastry.

Rounds of puff pastry placed on chicken mixture, and placed in oven.

Bake the casserole, uncovered, at 350 for 45 minutes. Cool before serving.

Alton’s chicken pot pie.

Quite frankly, this pot pie was disappointing. My pastry didn’t puff, which was likely my fault for using older puff pastry. But, more than that, the base of the pot pie was just “meh.” I think this recipe would have been substantially better had Alton used fresh, rather than frozen vegetables, as the vegetables were somewhat rubbery. I would not make this recipe again, as there are surely countless better pot pie recipes available.

Garlic Shrimp Casserole

Last up in this episode is Garlic Shrimp Casserole, which really should be called “Leftover Chinese Food Casserole.” In a saucier, heat 2 C of chicken broth.

Chicken broth in saucier.

Add a slurry of 2 T cold water with 2 T cornstarch, which will serve to thicken the dish.

2 T cornstarch

2 T cornstarch + 2 T cold water for slurry.

Cornstarch slurry added to broth.

Whisk in 1/2 t red pepper flakes and 1/2 C heavy cream.

Cream and red pepper flakes added to broth.

Pour this mixture over 2 pints of leftover garlic shrimp (or other Chinese leftovers) and a pint of cooked white rice that have been placed in a foil-lined terra cotta dish.

Leftover Chinese beef and rice in terra cotta dish.

Cream/broth mixture poured over beef and rice.

Jiggle the pan and sprinkle the casserole with 3/4 C of toasted Panko breadcrumbs.

Toasting Panko.

Toasted Panko.

Toasted Panko sprinkled over casserole.

Bake, covered, at 350 for 45 minutes. Cool before serving.

Casserole, covered, and placed in oven for 45 minutes.

Casserole after baking.

Alton’s garlic shrimp casserole.

I threw this together on a busy weeknight, opting to use leftover Chinese beef, rather than shrimp. Honestly, we really didn’t care for this and I would not recommend this recipe. This was just completely underwhelming, which, frankly, I expected after watching the episode. Boring is the best word to describe this recipe. All in all, this episode of Good Eats has to be one of my least favorites thus far. I would possibly make the broccoli casserole again in a pinch, but I would not make the pot pie or the garlic shrimp casseroles again. Here is to hoping that the next episode is more exciting!

Episode 50 – “In the Bulb of the Night”

Posted: November 27, 2015 in Season 4
Tags: 40 cloves, alton brown, chicken, garlic, good eats, greens, poultry

I love garlic and cannot fathom how some people do not care for it. I have some personal favorite garlic recipes, one of which is my mom’s garlic bread recipe. When I watched Alton’s garlic episode of Good Eats a few days ago, I remembered having seen it years ago when it originally aired. It’s always fun to re-watch the episodes I recall from years ago.

Vlad’s Very Garlicky Greens

Two nights ago for dinner I prepped a homemade pepperoni pizza and Alton’s garlicky greens. Ted has lost a lot of weight over the past couple months, due to his surgeries and complications, so we are working hard to get weight back on him (he had lost over 30 pounds, and had nothing to lose). Needless to say, I fix whatever sounds good to him, and Alton’s garlicky greens were his first foray into greens since surgery. For Alton’s greens, begin by heating a saute pan over high heat. While the pan heats, smash and peel four cloves of garlic. Add olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

Olive oil heating in pan.

When the oil is hot, add your smashed garlic cloves and stir them until they are lightly browned.

Four cloves of smashed garlic added to olive oil.

Once golden, remove the cloves from the pan and discard; they have done their job of “blessing,” or flavoring, the oil. Immediately add one thinly sliced clove of garlic to the flavored oil and turn the heat off under the pan.

One clove of garlic, thinly sliced, added to pan.

Move the pan continuously, as you do not want the garlic to burn, and sprinkle in some Kosher salt. As soon as the garlic begins to color, add four handfuls of greens to the pan (I used mixed greens), along with some more Kosher salt.

Greens and Kosher salt added to pan.

The residual heat in the pan will cook the greens. Toss the greens and add one more clove of garlic, this time finely chopped.

One clove of garlic, finely chopped, added to greens.

Toss the greens with the garlic and season with additional salt, if necessary.

Alton’s garlicky greens.

We both really enjoyed these greens. They had lots of garlic flavor, but it was not overpowering. And, the combination of cooked and raw garlic flavors was nice. I did slightly over-salt my greens. I will make these again. For a quick, easy, delicious vegetable side dish, this is great.

40 Cloves and a Chicken

Due to Ted’s cancer surgeries and complications, he was not up to having a big Thanksgiving with family this year, so we celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday at home – just the two of us, and the dogs and cat, of course! We are turkey traditionalists when it comes to Thanksgiving, but a turkey just would have been too much food for us this year. So, as an alternative, I made Alton’s take on chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. The chicken, along with my dad’s cornbread/sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut (a family tradition) made up our mini Thanksgiving feast. The nice thing about Alton’s chicken recipe is that most of the “work” is done in the oven, so it frees you up for making other things. For his chicken, you’ll need a broiler/fryer chicken cut into eight pieces: breasts, wings, thighs, and legs. I previously wrote about Alton’s method for breaking down a chicken here. Oh, you’ll also need 40 cloves of peeled garlic.

40 cloves of garlic.

Begin Alton’s chicken by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, season both sides of your chicken pieces with Kosher salt and pepper. Sear both sides of the chicken pieces in a large oven-safe skillet (with a lid) over medium-high heat.

Seared chicken.

Once the chicken is seared, add 40 cloves of peeled garlic, 1/2 C olive oil, and a healthy bunch of fresh thyme sprigs.

Fresh thyme, olive oil, and garlic added to seared chicken.

Put the lid on the pan and place it in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.

Lid on the pan and into the oven for 1 1/2 hours.

Voila!

Chicken after 1 1/2 hours in the oven. Oh, and a begging, pleading hound.

Alton’s chicken with 40 cloves of garlic.

We thought this chicken was absolutely delicious. The meat was moist and falling off of the bones, and the flavors of roasted garlic and fresh thyme permeated the meat. I will definitely make this one again. Oh, and if you choose, you can use the garlic oil in the pan to brush on bread for garlic toast. And, the whole garlic cloves can also be spread on toasted bread. Nothing like a built-in side dish!

Alton’s chicken as part of our mini Thanksgiving feast. The roasted garlic could be used to spread on toast.

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Allison Cooks Alton's Good Eats

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