Aug 30, 2010: Garlic Chives as a Vegetable

I originally purchased a bunch of garlic chives with the intention of making some type of dumpling. However, I worked the weekend so that plan was put on hold indefinitely.

I was reading through the cookbook, "Land of Plenty" and came across another simple recipe where the garlic chives is cooked with bacon and eaten as a vegetable. This make sense since rice is the staple for China and is kind of bland. The garlic chives being much milder than regular chives provide flavor and is long enough to be treated as a veg.

Flowering Chives with Smoky Bacon
8 oz Garlic Chives (Washed and cut into 2 in lengths)
3.5 oz Bacon (slab bacon preferred, cut into strips about the length of the chives)
2 T Oil
1 t Sesame Oil

1) The garlic chives was washed and cut into 2 inch lengths.


2) Fry the bacon in the oil for a couple minutes (I used strip bacon which I cut into smaller lengths).
The bacon put off quite a bit of fat so I drained all but 2 T of oil/grease.
Stem ends (thick parts) were added first to start cooking, stir fry for about a minute.
The leaves were added and stir-fried for around 3 to 4 minutes.
Add sesame oil just before plating.


3) Wait there's more... My addition to the recipe. :-)
When I uses chives, I like to mix in some beaten eggs.
About 1/4 of the chive-bacon mixture was used and mixed into the eggs. Here I had 4 egg whites (leftover from the Daring Baker's challenge) and 1 whole egg to give the egg whites some "color."


Now we're done! Food's up!

Garlic chives with smoky bacon.


Scrambled eggs with garlic chives and bacon.


Served over brown rice and a couple squirts of Siracha hot sauce.


A simple, yet flavorful dinner!

Sep 04: Roasted Potatoes with Smoked Salmon

There's a recipe clipped from a magazine (don't know/remember which magazine) that's been on my fridge for the summer.

Basically it's grilled red potatoes, sour cream, smoked salmon and topped with dill.
I have the ingredients (two 5 lb bag of red potatoes) but didn't get a chance to make the recipe until now.

I modified the recipe so I don't have to start the grill.

Roasted Potatoes with Sour Cream, Smoked Salmon and Dill
Preheat oven 400F

The Fixins'
1 lb Red Potatoes (baby potatoes... just a little larger than a golf ball)
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
Dash Thyme, dried
Dash Tarragon, dried
1/4 tsp Salt
Dash Pepper
1 tsp Olive Oil
Sour Cream
Smoked Salmon, I used Nova Scotia style smoked salmon

Cut potatoes in half
Coat with olive oil
Add garlic powder, thyme, tarragon, salt and pepper. How much? Whatever looks good.

Mix the potatoes and ingredients


Place potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 400F for about 45 minutes.


When done... a dab of sour cream, top with a little smoked salmon and finish with dill. I, also, used chives.


The potatoes turned out nicely and flavorful as is.
The taste was akin to a baked potato. :-)
Not bad, except I'm not a big fan of plain sour cream. I should have just waved the potatoes over the sour cream container... lol.