RESTAURANTS - EATERIES

GARLIC THE MAGICAL FOOD

By: R. Ellis Smith
Posted: 03/24/11

Instead of writing a recipe this month I thought I would give you a magical food lesson.

"There are many miracles in the world to celebrate, for me GARLIC is among the most deserving."

Professor Leo Buscaglia

American consumption of garlic has tripled in the last decade. Now up to two pounds per person per year. That's nearly 10 bulbs - the average Korean eats a breathtaking 20 pounds per year.

Garlic was first mentioned in Sanskrit writings 5,000 years ago. As early as 3000 B.C., Chinese doctors were prescribing it. Garlic was also a mainstay in the Ancient Egyptian diet. When a drought cut off the supply to workers building the great pyramid, they went on strike.

Eleanor Roosevelt was a garlic devotee; she wrote that she kept her memory sharp by eating 3 chocolate covered garlic balls every morning at breakfast.

Modern medicine acknowledges that garlic lowers serum cholesterol and blood pressure, stimulates the immune system, and acts as an antibiotic fighting infections, cancer, and parasites. You are less likely to be bitten by mosquitoes if garlic is readily consumed.

Now, of course, the biggest drawback is in your love life, your girlfriend or wife may object to you eating so much garlic that you begin to smell like a plate of Italian lasagna.

Rellis Smith
www.californiachile.com
rellis39@sbcglobal.net

LOVE DAT BROCCOLI!
BROCCOLI CORNBREAD

By: Rellis Smith
Posted: 03/07/11

Love Dat Broccoli! Durned, if I wasn't driving past a big ol' field of broccoli growing over in Oxnard and an old recipe of my Great Granma Unna that she gave me years ago popped int'a mind.

When we was kids, we was not so fond of eating our Veggies, especially the broccoli my Gramps grew out in his Victory Garden every year. Go Great Granma Unna came up with a way to make sure we got our share. Since we was all real fond of her cornbread, he decided to combine the broccoli with the cornbread to see what would happen. As it turned out, we all loved it so much Granma Unna used this recipe up to the end.

BROCCOLI CORNBREAD

Ingredients:

1 stick butter,
4 eggs,
1 large onion chopped up,
2 cups cooked Broccoli,
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cottage cheese,
1 box Jiffy (be sure it's Jiffy) cornbread mix,
2 tablespoons Tabasco (optional).
Directions:

Melt butter in a 9 X 13 Pyrex dish in 350-degree oven. Beat eggs and add all ingredients in order listed, Mix real well, Pour in hot dish over butter (do not mix). Bake in 350-degree oven about 40 minutes then test for done ness using a toothpick stuck in the middle of the cornbread. If it comes out clean it's done.

You'll sure be begging fer more.

Rellis Smith
www.californiachile.com
rellis39@sbcglobal.net

COSTA RICAN GALLO PINTO

By: Rellis Smith
Posted: 03/07/11

Heck of a Trip...

My cousin and I were on the way home from an extended stay down in Florida one year and arrived at the airport to late for our intended flight. The next flight was not for six hours so we decided to have couple of cold ones at a local pub.

Well, one cold one, led to another cold one, which led to another cold one and ... well you get the drift. By the time we looked up the six hours had passed and we had missed that flight too! My cousin by this time was tired of hanging around the airport and in his misguided manner said " heck with it, I'm taking the next train out and I don't care where it's going." Obviously, he forgot we were at the airport.

The next thing I knew we were on a plane headed for Costa Rica. Upon landing the first thing I really needed was some food, we hadn't eaten anything for about sixteen hours because we were too engrossed in drinking our cold ones. We grabbed a taxi and told him we were starving; he took us to a little open-air cantina and told the lady to just bring us whatever was ready. She came back with a bowl of some of the finest food I had ever tasted. I was still sharp enough to ask for the recipe and here it is.

Costa Rican Gallo Pinto

1 large onion minced fine
4 toes garlic minced fine
1/4-cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cups cooked white rice
3 cups cooked black beans
4 tablespoons Costa Rican Hot Sauce
Directions:

Heat oil in a heavy frying pan, cook onion and garlic until soft; add beans and fry for 10 minutes; add more oil if needed. Add rice, stir well and cook for 5 minutes more. Season with the hot sauce and serve with hot corn tortilla and, of course,... a cold Cerveza.

Rellis Smith
www.californiachile.com
rellis39@sbcglobal.net

100-YEAR OLD MEXICO TORTILLA SOUP
STORY & INGREDIENTS

Me and my cousin were wandering aimlessly through the Sonora Desert a few years ago when we crested a low hill and looked over the other side and saw a ramshackle adobe out there in the middle of nowhere. We slowly made our way to the front of the adobe when an elderly man suddenly appeared out of nowhere...at least it seemed like that...

He offered us a drink of cool water from a well he said he had dug when he was a very young boy. The water was extremely tasty and refreshing; he then motioned for us to join him sitting in the shade of the low front overhang on the front of the adobe.

Once we had settled in, he started telling us as how his adobe used to be a way station for the stagecoach that ran between the various villages in that area. He said people would ride the stage to his adobe just to be able to eat the meals he and his wife prepared.

One of the favorites of most of the visitors was something he called "OLD MEXICO TORTILLA SOUP".

We were treated to a bowl of this wonderful soup; and then, begged him for the recipe which he reluctantly gave to us, in return for a Dodgers baseball cap my cousin was wearing, the recipe we have adjusted slightly to fit our own ingredients, but I'm sure you'll find it absolutely delicious.

"OLD MEXICO
TORTILLA SOUP INGREDIENTS "

48-oz canned chicken broth
16-oz of good hot salsa
12-oz can whole corn
12-oz can white hominy
10-oz can napolatos (cactus) -
16-oz cooked shredded chicken (browned well)
1-dozen corn tortillas cut into triangle shape.
Directions:

Heat chicken broth to boiling,
Add all other ingredients except tortillas,
Return to boil remove from heat,
Ladle soup into individual bowls
Add a handful of tortilla pieces,
Grab a cold Cerveza and enjoy....
You know the funny thing about this whole desert event was that when we did get back to town and started telling our story to the bartender in the first bar we came to .. he looked amazed, he said that the only adobe way station that was ever out in that desert was burnt down and everybody was killed by the Indians over 100 years ago. True Story!!

P.S. That bartender was wearing an old worn out dusty Dodgers baseball cap; we didn't bother to ask where he got it from.

Rellis Smith
www.californiachile.com