I'm kvelling! Taiglach and Cheese Blintz Souffle

Oy, could this post be any more Jewish? Yom Kippur Break Fast meal consisting of Cheese Blintz Souffle and Honey Taiglach (tay-gul-ach) - cholesterol, butter, sugar, eggs, cheese, sugar, butter, honey, cheese and more cholesterol. Hey, you have to make up your calories after not eating for 24 hours, right?

Blintz souffle is a dish that takes regular cheese or fruit blintzes and kicks them up a notch. You bake the blintzes in a custard base (eggs, sour cream, vanilla, sugar) and let it rise in the oven, creating a fluffy and sweet home for tangy cheese blintzes. You can use frozen blintzes (I'll never tell) but Alex's mom had made them from scratch!

Taiglach is a traditional Rosh Hashana dish, but my wonderful mother-in-law had a bunch leftover that we couldn't resist nibbling...they were that good! They are small bits of dough baked in a dark and spicy honey sauce, mixed with chopped nuts. She got the recipe from her mother and aunt, and I know it's something we'll keep in the family!

Blintz Souffle



Ingredients:
12-16 blintzes (cheese or fruit)
1/4 cup butter, melted
5 eggs
1 1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup sugar (I like less)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup orange juice or 2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
cinnamon
Optional: frozen blueberries

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Melt the butter in a 9x13 inch baking dish and spread it around evenly.

Line blintzes in one layer in the bottom of the pan (you can squish them to make them fit). If using frozen blueberries, sprinkle them onto the blintzes.

In a bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream, sugar, vanilla, and orange juice. Pour the mixture over the blintzes and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.

Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes, or until golden brown on top.


Taiglach
adapted from Epicurean.com


Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups sifted flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
4 tablespoons oil (vegetable)
1 pound dark honey
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups nuts (not peanuts)

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl. Make a well inthe center and drop the eggs and oil into it. Work into the flour and mix until a dough is formed. Break off pieces of dough and roll into pencil-thick strips. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces and place on alightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake in a 350 F oven for 20 minutes or until browned. Shake pan once or twice. Cool.

Cook the honey, brown sugar, ginger and nutmeg in a saucepan for 15 minutes. Drop the baked dough into it and cook for 5 minutes. Add the nuts andcook 10 minutes additional, stirring frequently.

Test the mixture by dropping a little on a wet surface; if it holds together, it's done; if not, cook until it does.

How do you like THEM apples?

**No TWD for me this week. Just like with the Daring Bakers, it's just too hard to leave time open for recipe challenges during the High Holidays. The following recipes are from last week. But, I'm back and ready to bake now!**

So there we were, with over 4 lbs of lovely Macintosh and Honey Crisp apples, straight from a New England orchard. Alex immediately requested apple pie, but I was looking to get a little more creative. Besides, we had plenty of apples to spare in case one of my experiments didn't work!

The first order of business was homemade applesauce. This is so ridiculously easy that I don't think I'll ever buy applesauce again. Chop, boil, mash, eat. I think you can handle that! I looked over a few recipes online, but they all had the same basic components. I cut way back on the sugar, since these Honey Crisp apples were sweet enough, and I left it chunky by using the potato masher instead of our immersion blender. I doubled the recipe and froze half. I think I'll wait until Hannukah to serve it with some potato latkes!

Applesauce



Ingredients: (I doubled everything)
4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup white sugar (I only used a few tablespoons. I think 1/4 cup would be way too sweet)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Optional: other spices - nutmeg, cloves, allspice

Instructions:
In a saucepan, combine apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher.

My other apple kitchen creation comes from one of my favorite blogs, Ezra Pound Cake. Rebecca is a talented writer and kitchen goddess and her photographs always make me drool. I've had an intense craving for chai ever since the leaves started to change, so I knew this recipe was The One as soon as I saw it. She got the recipe from the Oregon Chai website.


Chai Apple Coffee Cake


Ingredients:
Cake:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup chai tea latte concentrate (recommended: Oregon Chai™ Tea Latte, Original)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Streusel:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter

Apple Topping:
2 cups of apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chai tea latte concentrate
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch baking dish, 9-inch cake pan or a small bundt pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add butter and mix until crumbly, with your fingers or a pastry blender. In a separate bowl, mix together chai concentrate, egg and vanilla. Blend into flour mixture, spoon the mixture into the pan, and spread it with a spatula or knife.

For the streusel, place 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 3 tablespoons butter in a small bowl. Pinch together with your fingers until crumbly. Set aside.

To make the apple topping, sauté apples in 2 tablespoons butter for approximately 2 minutes in a small saucepan. Add chai concentrate, cover and continue to cook for 2 more minutes. Spread the streusel on the batter. Spoon apples over the top, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons brown sugar.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Cool cake on wire rack for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

No Daring Bakers This Month

I apologize to my other Daring Bakers! The Jewish High Holidays got the best of me and my time, and I wasn't able to make this month's recipe. I'm posting on Saturday the 26th because tomorrow evening is Yom Kippur and I just won't have time to get to a computer.

Please check out the amazing talents of all the other Daring Bakers to see their delicious interpretations of this month's challenge.

Coming soon: homemade applesauce & chai apple cake

No TWD, but Southwestern Turkey Burgers instead

I really wanted to make this week's TWD recipe - Cottage Cheese Pufflets. Really really really wanted to make them. This was the recipe that I tucked away, ready to select for my round of Tuesdays With Dorie. I was a little sad when someone else picked it, but since I won't get to make my selection for another year or so, I guess it was bound to happen! Hmmm...I wonder if there will actually be any recipes left at that point?

Well, I planned to make them, but then the reality of Rosh Hashana and traveling for the holiday got the best of me. I didn't have time to work with this dough, as I saw many people commented that it needed proper chilling time after rolling and in between fillings. I should know by now that major baking challenges just won't happen during the Rosh or the Kippur*!

Anyways, please check out Daisy Lane Cakes for the pufflets. And I'll make them soon, I promise!

I did make a quick dinner last night, using some ground turkey that I had defrosted overnight. I got home from my spinning class at around 8:40 and this took about 5 minutes to throw together and another 10 to cook. Delicious! They had a great kick from the salsa and cumin and the cilantro flavor really came through.

Turkey burgers can get dry pretty easily, so I upped the amount of salsa in the mix to keep some of the moisture. Be sure to cook them until they reach 165 degrees, but no higher!

Ingredients:
1 pound uncooked ground turkey breast
6 baked low-fat tortilla chips, crushed (I omitted)
1/3 cup salsa (I used 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 TBS scallions, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 spray cooking spray
4 light hamburger roll or buns, wheat (bun for Alex and a Arnolds Sandwich Thin for me)
4 pieces lettuce
4 slices tomatoes
1/4 cup salsa

Instructions:
Combine the first 8 ingredients (turkey - pepper). Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1⁄2-inch-thick patty.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat the patties with cooking spray. Add patties to pan; cook for about 3 minutes. Carefully turn patties over; cook 4 minutes or until done (mine took about 10 minutes overall. I kept flipping to get even color).

Top the bottom halves of the buns with lettuce and tomato slices. Place the patties over tomato slices, and top each with salsa and top halves of buns. 5 points per burger.





*Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, for those of you scratching your heads and wondering "wha??"

Honey Cake and Apple Picking

Shana Tova Umetukah! A Happy and Sweet New Year!

Alex and I went up to Boston to celebrate Rosh Hashana with my family. Some of the traditional foods for the Jewish New Year include apples and honey, as well as other sweet and round foods. This symbolizes the cycle of life and the cycle of the year (round apples or challah) and sweetness for your upcoming year (honey/raisins.)

My mother tried a new recipe for honey cake, which I immediately fell in love with. She used a dark honey and the deep spicy flavor really came through. It's a dense and moist cake, perfect with tea or a glass of milk!

Honey Cake

Beyond Milk and Honey, Israeli Embassy Cookbook
Ingredients:

1.5 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 cup nuts
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
4 tsp oil
2 cups DARK honey
1/2 cup brewed coffee
Optional
1/2 tsp cinn
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger

Instructions:

Preheat to 325. Line 2 loaf pans with foil/parchment paper (or simply grease a bundt/tube pan), butter (or spray to keep it parve).

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

Beat the eggs, gradually adding sugar, until it's thick and light yellow in color. Beat in the oil, honey, and coffee. Stir in the dry ingredients and nuts.

Turn the batter into the pan, bake for 50 min, until browned and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool before removing from your pan.

The weather was so perfect that we decided to go apple picking on Sunday with my sister and my 2-year old nephew. It was so much fun! He loved picking the apples off the trees and putting them into the bags. He also loved taking big bites of an apple, putting it down, picking another one, and taking another bite.

Can you see that he's double-fisting two huge apples?

Alex and I flew home with a whole carry-on bag stuffed with freshly picked Macintosh and Honey Crisp apples. There is nothing that says "fall" more that a crisp Mac apple, eaten straight from the tree. So good.

I can't wait to bake something! Any suggestions?

Hungry Girl? Yes I am!

I signed up for the Hungry Girl emails because I love her recipe swaps and product recommendations. Some of the recipes aren't my style (too much artificial sweetener), but others, like this one, are a winner. As soon as I saw the email, I started craving this sandwich. And it was gooooood.

I made a few changes to the recipe, mostly because I was too lazy to print it out, but also because I didn't really want to use mayo.

"Ring My Bella Mushroom Sandwich" adapted from Hungrygirl.com

Ingredients:
1 large portabella mushroom, stem removed
1 tsp. olive oil
1/8 tsp. salt, or more to taste
2 dashes ground thyme, or more to taste
1 tbsp. fat-free mayonnaise (I omitted)
Dash cayenne pepper, or more to taste (I omitted)
1 stick light string cheese (I used a slice of FF swiss for me, and regular munster for Alex)
1 Arnold Select/Oroweat Sandwich Thins roll (LOVE these!)
1 tsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread
2 dashes garlic powder
1 thick slice red onion, all rings intact
1 large slice tomato
1/2 cup shredded lettuce

Instructions:
Coat both sides of the mushroom with oil and sprinkle with salt and thyme. Gently rub the seasonings into the mushroom and set aside.

Season mayo to taste with cayenne pepper. Mix well and set aside. Pull string cheese into pieces and set aside as well.

Split apart your roll and spread the inside with butter. Sprinkle with garlic powder.

Bring a large skillet or a grill pan sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat. Place roll halves in the pan with the buttered sides down. Once warm and toasty, remove and plate with the buttered sides up.

Place mushroom in the skillet/pan, rounded side up, along with the onion, side by side. Cook on one side for about 7 minutes and then flip. Allow the mushroom to get soft and start to release some juices. Flip it back, rounded side up, and top with the cheese, until it starts to melt.

Place mushroom on the bottom half of the roll. Top with onion, tomato, and lettuce. Spread the buttered side of the roll's top half with mayo, and finish off your sandwich with it.

(this is about 5 points as written)

Operation Baking GALS Round 12

Thank you so much to all my wonderful baking GALS! If you are new to my blog, Operation Baking GALS (Give A Little Support) was started a little while ago by Susan of She's Becoming Doughmesstic and it has since grown in leaps and bounds. Every round, the bakers are divided into teams and each team is assigned a soldier. We then bake and ship care packages to our soldier and he/she will share the goodies amongst his/her unit. I've received a few thank-you letters and emails from our soldiers and it always makes me smile.

I hadn't lead a team in a few rounds, but I knew I had a group of awesome bakers that would come running as soon as I said "Go". I was searching around for a soldier when my friend Erica swooped in to save the day. Her friend is stationed in Afghanistan AND his 30th birthday is the end of September. What better reason do we need? Kenny is from outside of Boston and his wife, Diane, wrote the sweetest bio for us:

Kenneth (Kenny) is a Sergeant currently serving his second tour of duty with the US Army. He is currently stationed in Afghanistan, but was previously stationed in Iraq for a year. On Sept. 21st, Kenny will celebrating his 30th birthday making this a great month to send him tons of home-made goodies!

Raised in MA, Kenny grew up with his parents, Jerry and Jane, and 3 sisters, Sarah, Amanda, and Katie. He is the only one of his siblings to still live in MA, but he is still very close with all of them. When not serving overseas, Kenny now lives in MA with the 3 loves of his life- his wife Diane and daughters Ellie, age 7 and Maddy, age 2- whom he misses very much.

Besides his strong love for his family, Kenny also has a strong love of music and acting. As a musician, Kenny plays french horn, saxophone and piano. When home, he has also frequently acted with the Off-Broadway Players at UMASS Lowell, Newton Country Players, and Nashoba Players, where he met Diane! His most recent performances include Godspell, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Beau Jest, Proof, and several festival performances.

Kenny is proud to be serving his country and protecting its citizens, and he appreciates all the support he receives from those back in the States!

Now, c'mon...how could you not want to send this guy cookies? Luckily, I had a wonderful group of 14 bakers ready and willing to answer the call of Operation Baking GALS Team GO TERPS! Diane also told us that Kenny loves hermits and is trying to be healthy, so a lot of bakers sent him Mens Health magazines and kinda-good-for-you snacks. Here are some of their delicious care packages:

• Barbara B. sent oatmeal craisin and molasses cookies


• Karen C. sent peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, along with an assortment of mints, cards, beef jerky and homemade trail mix


• Ashley P. sent sugar cookies


• Erica S. shipped hermits, rice krispie treats and trail mixes


• Kara sent snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies, along with Goldfish, baby wipes, and other fun snacks


• Rachel N. sent a very creative package including brownies, wet wipes, instant coffee and lots of fun stuff for any women in Kenny's unit


• I sent hermits, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies
  

Karen's delicious looking care package!

My hermits

Rachel's stuffed package

TWD: Flaky Apple Turnovers

Ahhhh...fall is in the air! As soon as I feel the first hint of a chill, I start craving all things fall. I can't wait to bake with pumpkin, apple, maple, and other delicious autumn spices. These apple turnovers were a great way to kick start my fall baking streak! Great recipe pick for September, Julie!

I'd never made turnovers before (although I've eaten plenty!) and I struggled a little bit with the proper dough thickness::apple filling ratio. As a result, mine had a little too much dough and not enough apple, but they were still fantastic. The dough is made with sour cream (oh don't worry, there's a LOT of butter in there, too) , so there is a hint of tang throughout the flakiness, and the apples are tossed with just enough cinnamon and sugar to make them melt in your mouth. I will definitely try to make these again!

Campfire Cooking

Cooking takes on a whole new dimension when it's done over an open fire! Alex and I went camping this weekend with some friends, Jeff & Tara. We went to Cunningham Falls State Park, in Western MD, sort of close to Camp David. While it poured on Friday and made everything wet, the rain held back for our actual camping experience. Tara had never been tent camping before and she was a real trooper. Although, I don't think we'll get her in a tent again!

I scoured around online for campfire recipes, astounded at how ridiculous some of them seemed, but fascinated by others. We decided to do foil cooking, which is basically cooking your dinner in foil packets tucked in among the hot coals. I made Hobo Pies for the men and Lemon Chicken for us ladies, with sweet potatoes on the side. Jeff provided the breakfast recipe, which was pretty much the coolest thing ever - Egg in an Orange. I got such a kick out of it. I actually liked the lemon chicken so much that I'll probably make it again, in our regular oven. Mosquitos and gigantic spiders not invited.

Lemon Chicken

Ingredients

Boneless, skinless chicken breast (one per person)

Lemon

Garlic powder

Italian Seasoning

Foil

Cooking spray

Instructions

Spray a large square of foil generously with cooking spray. Slice the lemon thinly (unless you really like lemon!) and lay 4 slices down to form a square. Top with the chicken. Sprinkle with garlic powder and italian seasoning, and then top with one more lemon slice. Fold up the long sides of the foil, and roll down to create a packet, tucking and rolling up the sides as you go. Make sure it's well sealed!

Place the packets right on the hot coals. Cook for 40 minutes, turning every 10.

Hobo Pie

Ingredients

Ground beef (or turkey...or hamburger patties)

Potatoes, sliced

Carrots, sliced

Onions, sliced

Ketchup

Seasoning

Anything else you want (garlic, other vegetables)

Foil

Cooking Spray

Instructions

Double up on a foil square and spray very well with cooking spray. Lay down the ground beef and season with spices. Top with vegetables and ketchup. Seal up the edges and roll down to make sure it's tight. Place onto hot coals and cook for about 50 minutes.

Egg in an Orange

Ingredients

Orange (one per person)

Eggs (2 per person)

Foil

Cooking Spray

Salt/Pepper

Instructions

Slice an orange in half, cross-wise, and eat the fruit like it was a grapefruit. Spray a foil square with cooking spray and place the hollowed out peel onto it. Carefully crack an egg into the orange and top with salt & pepper. Wrap up the foil and place directly onto the hot coals. Allow to cook for 3-5 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs.

Hermits

What a strange name for a cookie! When I first heard it, all I could think of was a little Hermit crab scuttling along the beach. Not so tasty, in my opinion! However, these Hermits are delicious. I made a batch for Round 12 of Operation Baking GALS because our soldier's wife said that he loved Hermits. I imagine he'll get about 14 different packages of Hermits, so I really hope he does like them!

A Hermit is a soft and spicy cookie (or bar, in my case), made with molasses, raisins, cinnamon, allspice and cloves. It's wonderfully comforting and familiar in the flavors, reminiscent of spice cake and molasses cookies, with a chewy texture. I made mine a little thicker than normal, so they took about 45 min to bake instead of 25. WELL worth it though.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
3 eggs
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

In a large bowl cream together butter, sugar and spices. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt and stir until well blended. Stir in molasses, raisins and walnuts (if you're using them.)

To make bar cookies: Spread mixture on cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Cut into bars while warm and let cool on wire rack.

To make drop cookies: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Drop batter about 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet and bake 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on wire racks.

Mais Oui, it's a Chocolate Souffle.

Right out of the oven

This week's airy delight was chosen by Susan, of She's Becoming DoughMesstic. It's a great recipe, easy to follow, even though I was so intimidated. Souffles come with a history of horror stories and I had it ingrained in my head that this was going to be an impossible and frustrating exercise in futility. I'm happy to say that I was very wrong!!

Everything came together perfectly and the souffles rose just like they were supposed to. I halved the recipe and got 4 ramekins and 1 small teacup worth of batter. I had never had a souffle before, so I didn't know what to expect in terms of texture or flavor. I wasn't crazy about the texture when they were just out of the oven, but I found that I liked it when they sat at room temperature for a few minutes more. However, due to the egg white volume, the longer a souffle sits, the more it will sink.

This will make a very impressive dessert for a dinner party, but the key is to time it just right so you serve as soon as it's out of the oven. I didn't have time to make a sauce, but it would taste great with a creme anglaise or a raspberry coulis (or even ice cream!).

5 minutes later, sunken souffle

TWD: Espresso Cheesecake Brownies

This weeks chocolate and coffee goodness was picked by Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell. I whipped them up last night because today is a Welcome Back luncheon in the office and I wanted to bring a sweet dessert for everyone. Some TWD'ers thought that the swirls were too pretty to cover with the sour cream icing, but I was really intrigued by the flavor combos so I wanted to do the recipe as written. Well, except for adding cocoa powder to the sour cream icing to give it some depth :-)
Other than that, exactly as written!

I haven't tried them yet (it's only 9AM!) but I'll come back and post an update after I sample a tiny piece.

**Update** Just tried a small piece and they are delicious! The brownie layer was a bit dry, as other TWD bakers found, but the coffee/chocolate/sour cream combo was fantastic. I'm not a huge cheesecake fan, so these weren't my favorite Dorie recipe, but they do taste good.

Lebanese Green Beans (Loubia B’Zeit) & Smoked Garlic Chicken

***TWD Espresso Cheesecake Brownies coming tomorrow! I'm going to bake them tonight for a work potluck on Wednesday***

Never go food shopping when you're hungry. I know this simple rule, yet I can't ever seem to follow it. My latest discretion was a visit to the oh-so-lovely Belvedere Square market during a lunch hour, where I wandered past the Neopol Smokery. Usually, just the aroma alone is enough to make me want to lick the display windows, but on that particular day, I was in for a deadly one-two punch. I was hungry and there was a really cute guy working the front counter. He's a charmer, that one. So much so that he charmed me right out of $8 for a head of smoked garlic and a small container of their amazing smoked salmon salad. As my sister-in-law says, that stuff is like crack. It's so good.

Please don't judge me. You weren't there. You don't know!

So there I was, with a head of smoked garlic, just hanging out in my fridge, waiting to be turned into a masterpiece. I was happy enough to spread a bit of it on toast and devour it, but I figured that I should at least try to make an effort for a full meal. Smoked garlic is similar to roasted garlic, in that it become soft and spreadable and a lot more mellow-tasting. The sharp garlic taste is replaced by a smokey, almost sweet flavor that is very easy to enjoy. (If you haven't ever roasted garlic, I highly recommend it! It's so simple).



My friend Andrea recommended a Lebanese side-dish that her husband makes all the time. Mazen is from Beirut and whenever he and Andrea take their family back there for a visit, she posts pictures of all the amazing food they eat. I love Lebanese food, so I knew I had to try this dish. It was a good recipe, but I don't think the smoked garlic was the best choice. The flavor was a little too mellow and didn't really come through. I'll make this again, but with fresh garlic next time!


Lebanese Green Beans (Loubia B’Zeit)

Ingredients:
this serves 6. I didn't realize that and now we have a ton leftover!
1/2kg of fresh green beans, trimmed (approx. 2 lbs)
400g ripe tomatoes, diced or 1 tin of crushed tomatoes (I used a large can of crushed. Fresh would work better!)
3 brown onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
3 tbs olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice
salt & pepper

Instructions:
Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped onions and sauté until very soft, around 10 minutes.

Add the garlic, beans, salt and pepper and any dried herbs (if using – see note below), and saute for on a low heat for 10-15 minutes, or till the beans started to wilt.

Add the tomatoes and lemon juice, then bring to a boil.

Cover and cook over a very low heat until the tomatoes form a thick sauce – around 45 minutes.
Season with fresh herbs or salt & pepper here if using them, but delicious as is.


I also used the garlic in a chicken recipe that I just kind of threw together. This was a better way to highlight the smoked garlic, since you could spread it on each bite of chicken as you went along.


Smoked Garlic Chicken

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
5-7 cloves smoked garlic, peeled
1 tbs olive oil
Poultry seasoning (dried thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425. Spray a cooking dish with cooking spray.

Divide the olive oil over all the chicken and coat evenly. Season each breast with herbs and lay in the baking dish. Top each with a few cloves of garlic, and cover the dish with foil. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until chicken registers 165 degrees. While it's still hot, mash up each garlic clove on top of the chicken and spread around, almost like butter.