Cooking With Garlic
I love Garlic. I buy it fresh from the local farmer's market whenever possible. I saute it in olive oil in one of three ways: whole cloves, chopped cloves or crushed cloves. Crushing garlic releases the oil and makes it more intense.
I don't use fancy garlic presses to crush my garlic, I just use my knife. Lay the knife blade flat on the garlic clove, then tap carefully at first to slightly crush the garlic clove and stop if from flying away, then give a firm slam to fully crush and release the oil.
But the saute method is not the only way to cook garlic. Try roasting a whole bulb in the oven. The garlic goes soft and brown with an elegant and mild nutty flavor that's totally different than saute garlic.
Or you can add a few cloves of garlic (whole, chopped or crushed) to some olive oil in a small bowl and carefully microwave. Be sure not to overcook. Again, you'll get elegant mellow garlic with a subtle nutty taste. Plus you get an added bonus - the olive oil is now garlic infused and can be used in all sorts of ways. For example: brush it on bread and toast or grill for fast superb garlic bread. Or use it for cooking, or add a tablespoon to cooked pasta for instant pasta with garlic oil.
The best garlic I ever had was from a friend who grew it himself in his garden. It had small dirty scraggly bulbs, but it was amazingly fresh and intense and oozed oil like crazy when crushed.
I also use garlic powder and granulated garlic. It's not as good, but it's fast. I never use garlic salt, it contains salt!
Ah yes, I love Garlic.
Content written and posted by Ken Abbott abbottsystems@gmail.com