Herbs

Bella Bruschetta

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Broo-sket-tah, Italian for fabulous appetizer, is my go to dish for dinner parties and potlucks.  It requires minimal effort and you can bring something dazzling, flavorful, and healthy to the table.  A small batch of bruschetta goes a long way.  I made a small dish and it served 5, easily.

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Consuming tomatoes provides an array of benefits to your health, including reducing bad cholesterol, improving skin, making stronger bones, fighting cancer, regulating blood sugar, making hair shinier and stronger, and preventing kidney stones and gallstones.  To avoid using white bread, I served bruschetta with whole grain wheat toast for a healthier take on the traditional recipe.

In terms of taste, they say the uglier the tomato, the tastier it is.  Here, I used 10 ounces of mini heirloom tomatoes from Trader Joe’s.

Recipe after the jump!

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Tomato Basil Seared Scallops

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I cooked scallops for the first time last night.  I was nervous about cooking to the perfect “done-ness” but the process proved to be pretty fail proof.   This recipe was also improvised and I love how it turned out!  The tomatoes, basil, and rosemary add so much flavor but the dish isn’t drenched or submerged in a stew, allowing  you to appreciate the taste and texture of the scallops on their own.

IMG_1293Recipe after the jump! 🙂

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Making Yuzukoshō FTW!

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Yuzukoshō is most familiar as green, sublime speckles of heaven on sushi.  Add a dash of ponzu sauce and hello foodgasm!

Yuzukoshō is made from the peel of Yuzu, a specific type of citrus, “koshō” (chills), and salt.

Recipe after the jump 🙂

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5 Ways to Extend The Shelf Life of Herbs

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We all know that buying fresh herbs can get expensive and they tend to spoil fairly quickly.  Whomp whomp.  Here are 4 ways to extend the shelf life of your herbs.

1. Turn Fresh Herbs to Dry Herbs by Microwaving

Food & Wine’s Mad Genius video series on YouTube demos how to dry herbs by microwave. Genius indeed!

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I Heart Elephant Garlic

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While passing through Gilroy on my move to San Francisco, I stopped by a produce stand and bought a bulb of elephant garlic.  My only regret was not buying more.  Elephant garlic is actually a variant of the leek species.  It’s more mild than regular garlic, thus preferred when used raw.  I love the convenience in size.  I usually only need 1 clove when cooking.  I do a rough chop by knife then I finish dicing in a food processor.

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Elephant garlic can be bought online.  The cheapest option is to purchase seeds or bulbs for planting.  Here is one store in Gilroy that ships harvested elephant garlic  –  http://store.garlicdude.com.

The Best Whipped Butter Spread, Ever

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In my opinion, whipped butter is the best thing to come along since sliced bread.  I came up with this super simple recipe to serve whipped butter with dinner rolls for Thanksgiving dinner.  Roasted garlic also is amazing when spread on bread, why not have it all?  Add in some chopped fresh herbs and you have a sinfully savory spread.

Roasting garlic in the oven takes about an hour.  You can roast the garlic the day before and finish in about 5 minutes the day you want to serve.

I find that removing the garlic bulb skin before roasting is a lot easier than cutting the bulb in half and wrapping the cloves with the skin in aluminum foil.  It’s a little extra work in the beginning but once the bulbs are roasted, they can just get dumped into a food processor.

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