Garlic: Not Just for Warding Off Vampires!

This week we hear again from Rebecca VanDolzer, with her thoughts on Garlic. Thanks for contributing again, Becca.

- Tom

Garlic is found in almost every cuisine imaginable. It can be linked culturally or horticulturally to every single country somehow, someway. It is consumed, produced, and used all over the world.

The main purpose for garlic is culinary, although it has many added benefits along with that yummy taste. Garlic can fight the common cold, prevent heart disease and keep pesky vampires at bay. Beware though, after consuming garlic you might ward off more than just the vampires. It doesn't exactly help with fresh breath so you might want to avoid it before an important interview or date! I never really minded the smell of garlic though, I guess it's the Italian in me!

Heidi Klum even swears by the stuff. She claims to eat at least a clove of garlic every day, raw or prepared in food, to keep her looks and health in tip top shape. Now, I don't know about you, but if Heidi Klum looks like that from garlic.... then count me in!

OK, all of that aside, I find garlic to be a necessary addition in most all of my recipes. It is a main aromaic flavor for almost all the sauces, soups, and toppings in my repertoire. I absolutely love the stuff! I have to say that there are some ways to prepare garlic that are better and easier than others, so I'll share a few ways with you now.

• Prepping: I never use less than 4 large cloves (told you I love the stuff!) Take the individual cloves of garlic, with the flat side of your knife pound the clove as if you are banging down the gavel in a court room. This will do most of the work for you in removing the skin. It should peel right off! Once you have thrown it away you can then begin to mince the garlic, either by knife or food processor.


• Minced Garlic: The workhorse of the kitchen, simple minced garlic is great for sauteing to start (or finish) a dish, or raw to become a topping like Gremolata!


• Roasted Garlic: Doesn't need much else, it can actually be used as a topping of its own.


• Orange Rosemary Gremolata - a mixture of fresh herbs, garlic, oranze zest and oilive oil.


• Fried Garlic Chips - Very thin garlic slices fried until crispy brown. They'll tast salty even thouhg no salt has been added.

Detail reicpes for each of these dishes follow below.

I hope you have gained some knowledge about garlic from this and cannot wait to try it at home!

Yours Truly,
Rebecca VanDolzer