Garlicpalooza 2 – Oral boogaloo
Roasted Garlic
Ingredients
- Bunch of bulbs of garlic
- Olive oil for drizzling, and more for preserving.
- Salt
- Aluminum foil, cut into squares big enough to completely wrap the garlic bulbs. 1 square per bulb
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Gently peel outer layer of the garlic bulbs. (optional)
- Trim the top to expose the cloves.
- Place a trimmed bulb, cut-side up on each piece of foil.
- Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil & sprinkle some salt on top..
- Wrap the foil around the garlic.
- Place in muffin tray, and pop in the oven for 35min +/-5 (lightly browned). You'll need to carefully peel the foil back to see how roasted the bulbs are.
- Optional bake for an additional 15 minutes for a sweeter, and darker garlic clove.
- Let the bulbs cool down on a rack, peel them out of the bulbs, fill a jar, cover with olive oil, and store in the fridge for up to one week.
Notes
If it's not all gone within a week, you might want to re-think your life choices.
Toum
Lebanese vegan garlic mayo.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Peeled garlic. The fresher the better. Approx 4 bulbs or 30 cloves.
- 2 tsp Kosher salt (recommended), or 1 tsp table salt.
- 4 tbsp Lemon juice, divided
- 3 cups Neutral oil. Do not use olive oil, or any other oil with a strong flavour. This recipe is all about the garlic.
Instructions
- Split each clove lengthwise, and remove the germ, especially any green stuff.
- Pulse garlic and salt in a food processor until finely minced. Frequently scrape down the sides with a flexible spatula. This takes about 2 minutes of processing, and the scraping should be done every 20 seconds.
- Add 1 tbsp lemon juice, and pulse until a paste begins to form.
- Add another tbsp lemon juice and keep pulsing until completely smooth.
- With the processor on medium-high speed, slowly drizzle 1 cup of oil, followed by 1 tbsp lemon juice. Repeat until everything is combined. Do not stop the food processor during these steps. Processing the oil should take 15-20 minutes.
Notes
- Do not use an upright or immersion blender because it will result in something closer to a mayonnaise.
- The germ can be easily removed with the tip of a paring knife.
- Your food processor might have an "emulsion reservoir" for pouring a thin stream of oil. You can DIY this with a disposable plastic cup by poking a small hole in the bottom.
- If the emulsion breaks, combine 1 egg white with 1/4 cup of the mix until fluffy. Slowly pour in the remaining mix with the food processor constantly running.
- Some versions call for 4 tbsp of ice cold water on top of the listed recipe, this will make a lighter and thinner version, better as a sauce.
- It's best to let this sit overnight in the refrigerator. Place in an airtight container, smooth out the surface, and place paper towel on top to wick out any excess moisture or oil that will appear at the top.
Skordalia
Greek garlic & mashed potato dip
Ingredients
- 1 lb Russet potatoes see #1
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup blanched almonds, optional see #2
- 1/2 cup EVOO
- 1/2 cup water
- 5 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
- Bunch of salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Quarter the potatoes, cover with 2" cold water, 1 tbsp salt.
- Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cook until very tender, approx 25 minutes
- Drain potatoes and let cool.
- Rub the skins off the potatoes, and gently mash.
- Sprinkle 1/2 tsp and crush the garlic with the side of a knife, or mortar & pestle,
- In a processor, combine garlic, almonds, oil, and puree into a paste.
- Mix this into the potatoes, and continue to mash. See #3
- Mix in 1 tbsp salt, water, lemon juice, vinegar, season with pepper and more salt to taste.
- Ideally, chill for 2-3 hours, and bring to room temp before serving.
Notes
- You can substitute the potatoes with 2/3 lb of stale, crustless bread.
Soak the bread in water, and squeeze the excess moisture ou - Almond flour works, and the almonds are completely optional
- processing the potatoes might turn this into a gluey mash
Garlic Butter
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning ( 1 tbsp fresh minced parsley )
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/8 tsp paprika
- garlic - see below
Instructions
- Mix well.
Notes
For the garlic, you can use 1 tsp granulated garlic powder, or 1/2 tbsp minced garlic, or 1-2 tbsp roasted garlic.
Roasted Garlic Butter
Ingredients
- 1/2 bulb roasted garlic ( see below )
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter ( and then add 1/4 tsp salt )
- 1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
Instructions
- Mix well, adjust seasonings to taste.
Notes
I like to gently peel the paper, trim the tip, make a pouch with aluminum foil, drizzle olive oil (less than 1 tsp pur large bulb) and a pinch of salt on top before wrapping it up. I place these into a muffin tin, bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, longer for more mellow and sweeter garlic. You can bake at 400 for 30 minutes, but I prefer low and slow. 4 cloves is about right for 1/2 of butter, but since I'm Greek, I usually double that.
Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup scalded milk (I like 10% cream)
- 1/2 cup cold water, and 1 cup warm water for the yeast
- 1 tbsp dry yeast
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Scalding the milk means to bring it up to 195F.
- Let the milk cool to 140-150F, pour into a large mixing bowl, add the cold water and the temperature should be around 115F
- In a separate bowl, activate the yeast in 1 cup warm water, and whisk in the sugar. Let it sit for 5-15 minutes - at least 1/2" layer of bubbles on top.
- Gently whisk the yeast mixture into the milk, and then stir in the rest of the ingredients.
- Knead for 10-15 minutes, until the dough pulls cleanly from the edge of the bowl. If it seems too wet, keep kneading for another minute before adding 1 tbsp of flour. If it seems too dry, add 1 tbsp water and knead for another minute before making any more adjustments.
- Form the dough into a ball, and either spray with oil, or lightly brush with oil, cover, and put in a warm place for 1-2 hours (until it doubles in size.
- Punch the dough down to deflate, and consider letting it rise again if you have time.
- Form the dough into the shapes you want, let rise for at least half an hour in that shape or container, then bake at 350 for 10-30 minutes (small rolls to larger loaves), until golden brown, and internal temperature is 190F.
- Small rolls can be eaten fresh, loaves should be left to cool to room temperature on a rack.
Notes
3 tbsp sugar makes for a slightly sweet bread, if you want to cut it down, I'd recommend not going under 1, just so the yeast has something to eat.
For pizza dough, use 1 cup warm water, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 3 tsp of optional dried herbs (like basil, oregano, marjoram). Omit the milk and baking powder