Week 2: Saturday Lunch & Things I Learned From My TV

After a lovely Saturday morning trip to the Silverlake Farmer's Market last weekend, my fridge was left this weekend with 5 beautiful russet potatoes and some Brussels sprouts.  With the hangover hungries and accompanying laziness I pulled out the contents of my vegetable drawer and threw together a pan of roast veggies.

Honestly, the pan of roast vegetables for lunch is less about eating what Grandma ate, and more about balance in the diet.  Since Auntie Olive and that branch of my family were connected to the beef industry and ate so much beef, I am having a steak tonight. So my food intake during the day should balance this out a little.

What did I learn from TV? Well, watching the first episode of Bravo's Chef Academy I saw Chef Novelli take a contestant to task for not prepping garlic properly. Aren't we supposed to painstakingly peel the paper off of every single clove of garlic? Apparently not.  There is a better method to this madness.

First, place the end of your wide chef's knife flat against the clove with the concave end facing the counter, the convex end facing the knife.

Next, punch the heel of your hand against the flat blade until you feel the garlic give against the punch through the metal.

Et voila!  A cracked clove of garlic from which the paper pulls off very easily.

And the clove itself is slightly split, with the oils released in a lovely fashion.  Now you can dice, chop, or throw into your cooking as is.

For my lunch, I chose to chop four cloves very coarsely.

I also learned from TV not to fear the salt. I have a well practiced habit of under salting my cooking. Watching Chef Anne Burrell coach the somewhat hapless cooks on Food Network's Worst Cooks in America, I heard her say one evening to just go ahead and be free with the salt. Salt your food! So, I have been trying to be more liberal with the salt, to good effect. Today I used my French fleur de sel, eyeballed a teaspoon and then tossed in a little more of the beautifully large and uneven crystals.

Toss the potatoes (cut into eighths), Brussels sprouts, and garlic with a few tablespoons of olive oil and the salt and place in a baking dish. You can also use a flat pan or cooking sheet if you prefer.

I used another one of the beautiful Le Creuset dishes B gave me for Christmas/ birthday.

I baked at 400F for about 50 minutes, tossing a few times in the middle when I remembered to get up from watching the Australian Open.

And here we have a beautiful tasting and healthy lunch for two with leftovers for later snacking.  There was a long winter's nap to follow.