Celebrate Garlic Cuisine: Keep the Vampires at Bay with These Yummy Kitchen Creations

by Pat Crocker

 

From subtle to superior, garlic’s flavour power is almost as wide-ranging as the number of its varieties. One tiny raw, fresh garlic clove delivers a powerful punch, yet a handful of whole bulbs, when roasted or gently ‘sweated’ in olive oil, morph into a sweet and meltingly tender pulpy mass with a deceptively mellow flavour.

 

Garlic (Allium sativum), part of the lily plant family, shares its ancient lineage with leeks, onions, shallots and chives. Like its pungent relatives, garlic is more vegetable than seasoning – actually a fleshy, edible bulb that separates into cloves, each neatly wrapped in paper-thin skin. Knowing even a little bit about the subspecies (there are two: soft-neck and hard-neck), the varieties (there are five), and some of the sub-varieties (more than 600), gives you a garlic master’s edge in the kitchen.

 

European cooks are masters of garlicky flavour-boosters. Follow their example and use hard-neck garlic varieties to make French persillade and Italian favourites – gremolata and pesto. For persillade, combine chopped fresh parsley and garlic, store in the refrigerator and use liberally with cooked vegetables (especially fried potatoes), salads and poached fish or poultry. To make gremolata, simply add lemon zest to persillade. Pesto’s nutmeg-flavoured basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese and olive oil complement tomatoes, pasta, bruschetta and salad dressings, and garnish soups and casseroles.

 

Because they keep longer, soft-neck garlics are available long after hard-neck varieties have disappeared. Soft-neck bulbs – Artichoke and Silverskin – tend to be larger, have more cloves, and store longer than the hard-neck garlic varieties, qualities that make them perfect for braiding. Most are mild-flavoured, but can become more pungent when grown in cold climates (Voigt). Inchelium Red, California Early and Late, Chet’s Italian Red, and Susanville are examples of Artichoke varieties. Silver-skin varieties include Mild French, Silver White and Nootka Rose. Display them, roast them and enjoy them in egg dishes, with tender vegetables and cream soups.

 

Feisty or fragile, sweet, hot or loaded with sulfur, garlic is the secret to making food taste good. Take a stroll down Gourmet Alley and try our festival-tested garlic recipes.

 

Garlic Recipes

 

Roasted Garlic and Artichoke Spread

 

More than a spread, use this Mediterranean combo as an impromptu sauce for steamed vegetables, a substitute for mayonnaise, a dip for raw vegetables, or vegetable stuffing. (Makes 1-1/2 cups)

 

Preheat oven to 400° F.

3  bulbs garlic, excess skin removed

5  Tbsp olive oil, divided

1  can (14 oz) artichokes, drained

1  Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

freshly ground sea salt and pepper

 

Roast Garlic: slice a quarter-inch slice off the top of the whole garlic bulb. Place root end down on a large square baking pan. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over the tops of the bulbs. Cover the pan with foil. Bake in preheated oven for one hour or until cloves are tender.  Let cool.

 

Squeeze garlic flesh out of the skins into the bowl of a blender or food processor. Add artichokes and rosemary. Blend on high, adding remaining oil through opening in the lid, until soft and creamy. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

Garlic Greens with Chickpeas and Cumin

 

Great as a vegetarian main dish or serve smaller portions as a warm salad course or vegetable side dish. (Makes: 4 main course servings)

 

3 Tbsp  olive oil

2 red onions, coarsely chopped

1 Tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp hot pepper flakes

1⁄2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 can (19 oz) chickpeas and liquid

1 lemon, freshly squeezed

4 cups fresh spinach, cleaned and trimmed

freshly ground sea salt and pepper to taste

 

In a deep-sided skillet or saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, reduce heat to medium, and cook stirring occasionally for seven minutes or until soft.

 

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, toast cumin seeds over medium heat for one or two minutes, or until aromatic. Remove from heat. Cool. In a mortar or spice grinder, pulverize or grind the toasted seeds. Mix with hot pepper flakes and cinnamon.

 

Stir cumin mixture and garlic into onions, cook for two minutes. Add chickpeas and their liquid and lemon juice to the pan. Bring to a boil and add spinach. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for five minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

Mediterranean Herb Paste

 

Make and use this in several different dishes in a week. It can form the basis for a vinaigrette dressing, soup, dips, spreads and even be used as a flavoring for savoury muffins and scones.

 

10 garlic cloves

1/2 cup fresh sage leaves, chopped

1/2 cup fresh thyme leaves

1/4 cup fresh rosemary leaves, snipped

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp sea salt

1 Tbsp tarragon or white wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

 

Pulse garlic in food processor three or four times or until garlic is finely chopped, or pound in a mortar and pestle. Add sage, thyme and rosemary. Pulse three or four times (or pound until mixed in) until finely chopped. Add mustard and salt, pulse until blended.

 

Gradually add three tablespoons of oil, processing as blended. Add vinegar and remaining olive oil and process until well blended.

 

Tips on Using Garlic in Cooking

 

Cooking with garlic is a matter of taste, technique and health. It’s the active component, allicin, that imparts garlic’s unmistakable odour and medicine.

 

• Preserve garlic in herbed oil or heat in vinegar and sugar and store in the refrigerator. (To peel and crush a clove, flatten with a French knife – for a handful, soak in lukewarm water for 15 minutes.)

• Slice, chop, crush or mince garlic for increasingly pungent results – the finer the cut, the more intense the flavour. Use a plastic board because wood absorbs the flavour.

 • For just a hint of garlic, use a whole clove and remove before serving. Rub a clove around the inside of a serving bowl or over toasted bread.

• A garlic-kissed oil is used to sauté greens or dress pasta. Heat one or two tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add three or four garlic cloves and swirl. Cook until the cloves are aromatic and golden. Remove, slice and use the sweet cloves as a garnish.

• A shallow clay or stainless pan is used to roast garlic.

• Fresh lemon removes garlic odour from hands and kitchen utensils, but rubbing hands on a stainless steel utensil does the same thing.

 

If you are garlic savvy, you know that many of the garlic festivals, especially those in Ontario have just finished. Keep this Festivals Summary for next year and pull out around mid-summer to mark your calendars for a fabulous Garlic event. Of course, gobs of great Ontario garlic are available from farms and farmers’ markets right now.

 

Garlic Festivals

 

Stratford Garlic Festival

 

Early September: Old Stratford Fairgrounds, www.stratfordgarlicfestival.com. 

Growing bigger every year with speakers, food, books, demonstrations.

 

Gilroy Garlic Festival

 

Christmas Hill Park; Gilroy CA 30 miles south of San Jose off Highway 101; www.gilroygarlicfestival.com.

 

End of July. It’s the biggest, longest-running (30 years) and perhaps the most fragrant garlic festival in North America, boasting more than three million attendees and some 4,000 volunteers working 41,596 hours preparing 10 tonnes of beef, 4 tonnes of pasta, 4 tonnes of calamari and 2 tonnes of scampi, and donating $8 million to local non-profit groups. It’s a gourmet restaurant, medieval fair, backyard barbecue, rock/country/jazz/blues concert, cooking school, open air circus, street vendor, craft club, farmers’ market, garden conference, bake off and beauty pageant in one!

 

Perth Garlic Festival

 

Perth Fairgrounds; www.perthgarlicfestival.com.

Second weekend in August. Hosted by the Lions Club of Perth, the festival is a widely attended annual community festival.

 

Hudson Valley Garlic Festival

 

Cantine Field, Saugerties, New York, exit 20 off NYS Thruway, east 1 mile; www.hvgf.org.

 

Last Weekend in September. One summer day in 1989, Pat Reppert hosted a dinner party to celebrate all things garlic at Shade Hill Herb Gardens in upstate New York. Three years later, when 1,600 people vied for 200 tickets, the newly crowned ‘Goddess of Garlic’ knew she needed help. The local Kiwanis Club of Saugerties New York stepped up to the challenge of hosting what would become the now famous Hudson Valley Garlic Festival.

 

With warm sunny weather over the two days, attendance has topped 70,000. Organizers aim to ‘celebrate the harvest season... and to reawaken awareness and deep appreciation of the fruits of the harvest through early harvest rituals, music, dance, delicious food, camaraderie and fun.

 

Lists Garlic Festivals in North America:

www.garlicseedfoundation.info/festivals.htm 

Gives International Garlic Festivals www.thegarlicstore.com

 

Pat Crocker loves the stinking rose. “I refer to garlic as the king of herbs because it reigns supreme in the kitchen,” she claims. Pat is a Culinary Herbalist, photographer, writer and lecturer. Author of several award- winning books, Pat’s latest book, The Vegan Cook’s Bible is now available. Her other books including The Vegetarian Cook’s Bible, The Juicing Bible and The Smoothies Bible, are available at bookstores throughout Canada and the United States. Write or e-mail Pat at 536 Mill Street, Neustadt, ON, N0G 2M0, pcrocker@riversongherbals.com; www.riversongherbals.com. Visit her blog: www.foodwedsherbs.blogspot.com

 

Sources and Resources

 

·      Gilroy Garlic Festival. The Garlic Lovers’ Cookbook, volume 2, revised.

·      Gilroy, CA Griffith, Linda and Fred.  Garlic Garlic Garlic. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.

·      Perry, Sara. Everything Tastes Better with Garlic. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2004.

·      Reppert, Pat. Mad for Garlic. Sioux City, Iowa: Hearts & Tummies Cookbook Company, 1997.

·      Voigt, Charles E, editor. Glorious Garlic: Herb of the Year 2004. Jacksonville, Florida: International Herb Association (www.iherb.org), 2004.

·      www.saltspringseeds.com, heritage and heirloom organic seed garlic. Box 444, Ganges P.O., Salt Spring Island, BC, V8K 2W1, Canada; 250-537-5269

·      Garlic Growers of Ontario, www.garlicgrowers.on.ca/