How to Dice an Onion

There's no use crying over diced onions, but most of us do. I've tried everything known to man to eliminate this, including wearing ski goggles! Believe it or not, that didn't work.

The only way to reduce the tears shed, that I know of, is to get through the process as quickly as possible. The longer your eyes are exposed to the open onion, the more you will resemble my niece at the end of a chick flick.

Try the method in this video to get the job done quickly. Ignore my technique. I'm not a formally-trained chef and have no knife skills. But if you follow the same steps, you'll get the onion diced quickly.



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Roasted Garlic

One of my all-time favorite ways to season dishes is with garlic roasted in olive oil. The result is a garlicky paste that has many uses.

Ingredients:

• Garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil

This is a very simple process. Preheat the oven to 400°.

Leaving the root end of the garlic bulb in-tact, cut 1/4 to 1/3 off the other end. If you have any loose skin hanging off, remove it too.


Pour some extra virgin olive oil in a small baking dish. I'll typically try to eyeball a depth of about 1/16". Try to use a baking dish that's barely big enough to accommodate your garlic, so the olive oil has nowhere to run.

Drizzle some more olive oil over the top. Enough to thinly coat each bulb.


Cover the baking dish tightly with foil, and put it in the oven. We all know that "cooking times may vary", but that rule seems to apply more to roasted garlic than anything else. I've seen it take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

Check it after 30 minutes, then periodically if it's not done yet. You're testing for a moderately squishy feel.

Once it's done, remove it from the oven and let it set until it's cool enough to touch.

From there, the possibilities are endless...

• Plunk 'em on a plate and let your guests squeeze it onto bread to create their own garlic bread.
• Mash it up with a mortal and pestle and add to your favorite dish.
• Come up with a new idea and tell me all about it!

Now, another option would be to use an actual garlic roaster. I have a Tagco Roasted Garlic Express Electric Roaster (pictured below), and I absolutely love it. Perfectly roasted garlic in 27 minutes. I'm not normally one to fill up cabinet space with "unitaskers", but this thing is a great exception. I really like the fact that it doesn't take up space in the oven when I'm cooking something.



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Bakin' Bacon

Baked bacon? You're kidding, right? No, I'm not kidding. This is a great way to prepare bacon. Especially in semi-large quantities. The primary benefits are that stays flat, the grease drips off, and it all gets done at the same time.

Oddly enough, the directions for doing this appear on the packages of several brands of bacon. Most of us just never read the package to find this out. This is a very simple process.

Start with a cookie sheet:

To make clean up a little easier, add some foil:

Toss a cooling rack on top of that:

Throw your bacon on, and bake away! I cook it at 400.

30 minutes in the oven and I have perfectly crispy bacon:

Check it frequently while baking. Cooking times will vary depending on your oven, the thickness of the bacon, and how well-done you like it.

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