CHEF SAMBRANO Food Articles Video Recipes
Hey hey hey! I'm Fat Albert... NO Just kidding. It's been a while once again since I've blogged on food thoughts. Well my foodies, I'm back with a vengeance and taking no prisoners, non, nada, zip, I'm going on a freaking vegan blitzkrieg and going full freaking blast baby!!!!!!
Today's dish is a vegan dish with its roots from the middle east. And if you look at the picture up above, that's a dish called Baba Ghanouch. We used to make this stuff as a spread at a natural food shop few years back. It's fairly easy to make. Basically the ingredients we used were lots of large eggplants, garlic, cherry tomatoes, turmeric, nutmeg, kalamata olives, olive oil, and plain yogurt. What this really is is a spread. It's all mushed up together seasoned with various seasonings, salt and pepper, and refrigerated. Diners would spread this over dehydrated crackers, all grain bread, or whatever they can spread it on, or fill them up in tortillas, or pita bread.
INGREDIENTS (Basic Baba Ghanouch)
4 large organic eggplants, whole and not peeled.
8 oz. cherry tomatoes, whole
6 minced cloves garlic
1/2 cup chopped round sweet onions
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. plain yogurt
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 deg F. Line a bakin sheet with foil, spray non stick over foil. Place eggplants and tomatoes on sheet. and Bake for about 20 minutes or until the eggplants are soft when you poke a fork through it.
2. In a large non reactive mixing bowl, place the baked eggplants, tomatoes, garlic, onions, green onions inside, and using a masher, gently mash all of the ingredients together. As you mash the eggplants, the flesh will come out, just pick the skin out and toss it away, the tomatoes will be softened and since they are small just leave their skins inside.
3. Add in the rest of the ingredients, and continue to mash it all together in concert. If it is too watery because of the other ingredients, don't worry, just cover it and refrigerate. When ready to use, just drain out excess liquids, then season with salt and pepper.
Boom! Code X, you done baby!
Until next time
Ron
© 2015
The sauce boat, see something like this and you're probably thinking about those old movies when a butler greeted the guests, and everyone ate at the rich guy's table that was like 50 yards long. Well, when was the last time a regular everyday family, making only 50 grand a year used one of these things? I mean, a sauce boat? Don't us regular folks just buy sauce outta a bottle? Or if someone was to make gravy, or a hot sauce from the stove, don't we just put it in a bowl and spoon it out? Hmm.. The sauce boat, sterling silver, shiny. Heck it probably comes custom made with real gold, and pleated with diamonds for all we know. The sauce boat. Hmm. I can see my dad going, "Hey gimme that silver shiny thing, I gotta scoop some fertilizer and fertilize the plants.
Until next time.
© 2015
Aloha from Maui, Hawaii on this first day of September 2015, I hope all of you had a good August, though a steamy one... everything is well I presume? Maybe some issues as life presents, but overall we are all good yes? Yes!
In this blog post I want to touch on simple cooking. No fuss. Maybe some chopping, some slicing, some mixing, but overall simple and uncomplicated. If you are a new foodie, a new cook, I suggest you take a few cooking classes, or some lessons from your mom, or your sister, brother, uncle, grandpa, anyone who can cook good food at home. I learned from my mom and dad. And like I said many a times, they used all the cooking methods known to mankind. If you go to culinary school, you'll learn how to cook with moist heat, and dry heat. Mom and dad did everything, poaching, boiling, steaming for moist heat. Grilling and barbecuing for dry heat. Frying and deep frying, baking, roasting all that.
If you can do one dish well, you will go on your way to becoming an epic home cook. I'll go over a dish for you called the Pot Roast. It is cooking using dry and moist heat.
If you look at the picture you are looking at an electric slow cooker, it comes in names such as Croc Pot, or just plain Slow Cookers. Some have automatic timers, and heat settings. Choose one that suits your needs. If it's just you and your partner then a small slow cooker will do. If you got a bigger family, get a larger one.
Here's what you do, assuming you've got your slow cooker a large one because you got about 4-6 people to feed. The list of ingredients below you can purchase at any supermarket.
Set 1 Ingredients
3 lbs. of chuck roast no bone.
2 tbs. vegetable oil.
Set 1 Directions.
In a large pan put the oil in, and over medium high heat, sear the chuck roast on all sides, this will give the roast a nice brown color instead of a pale livid appearance. Set the meat aside.
Set 2 Ingredients
32 fl oz low sodium beef broth (You can purchase these in cartons, or get cans)
1 cup of inexpensive red wine
1 sprig rosemary
8 cloves crushed garlic
2 small round onions peeled and quartered.
Set 2 Directions
Turn on your slow cooker (follow directions on manual) I would go Low heat and time it for 5 hours.
Place the seared chuck beef on to the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the crushed garlic around the sides, as well as the onion quarters. Place the rosemary sprig on the top of the beef. Pour in the beef broth, as well as the wine. Cover and let it slow cook for about 5 hours.
Set 3 Ingredients
2 large carrots peeled and sliced about 1/4" thick
3 large rusett potatoes, peeled and cubed about 2" cubes.
At about the 4 hour mark, add in the carrots and potatoes, and cover the slow cooker again.
At 5 hours, season with salt and pepper.
Take out the beef, it may be fork tender, if so no problem, place it on a nice platter, spread out the veggies nicely, and spoon the gravy (Liquid) from the bottom of the pot.
Serve with mashed potatoes, or rice, have slices of French bread with butter ready. These sides can be bought at the deli sections at most supermarkets, eliminating more work for you.
Easy, until next time.
© 2015
