While we’re on the subject of garlic…
Do you get the impression that I’m on the subject of garlic? Well, I do tend to get sort of exhilarated when the fresh stuff comes out. A few short weeks to cook with it and to buy lots for drying is all there is. After the season’s over, there’s only garlic imported from China.
For Shabbat I made some roasted garlic, mentioned below. Here are more precise instructions.
Wash three garlic heads and slice the rooty bottoms off. Then peel the first two layers off each one and set them to bake. Muffin tins are good for this. I placed my three bulbs in a little tin I had left over from Purim baking.
Here they are, drizzled with olive oil and well besprinkled with herb salt, pepper, and paprika.
The tin was covered in tin foil and popped into a medium oven alongside some other things that were roasting in there. About 40 minutes later, I poked a knife into one and saw that they were tender and ready.
I ate about half a bulb right out of the oven. Delicious. Here is the other half, smooshed and ready for other applications.
When using fresh garlic, you can just keep mashing the whole clove – central stalk part removed – and even the peels will be soft enough to eat. With dry garlic, you have to mash each clove and the meat will squirt out of the stem end.
Each bulb yields about 1 1/2 Tblsp. of soft roasted garlic.
I spread some of my garlic paté on challah.
Here are other things you can do with roasted garlic. You have to love the stuff, though.
* Stir a tablespoon into a pot of rice or quinoa before serving.
* Stir another tablespoon into the liquid part of your bread recipe. Proceed as usual, mixing in oil, egg, salt, flour, or however your recipe works. Garlic bread! Very garlic bread!
*Drop yet another tablespoon into soup. Just about any soup.Stir, allow it to simmer another 5 minutes, serve.
*For a wonderful bruschetta, toast your slices of bread, then spread a thin layer of roasted garlic on one side of each piece. Top them with a slice of tomato each and grill them for a few minutes. Or top with hot chicken livers. Or with leftover ratatouille.
Shabbat Shalom.
Very useful tips, I have never really known how to use fresh garlic,thanks! And shabath shalom to you too!
This is wonderful, I’d never thought to use other herbs besides salt, pepper and olive oil to roast. The paprika sounds divine!
Julia,
A pinch of thyme, well-ground-up rosemary, rubbed sage, or minced fresh basil are also very good. Just a pinch.