Tag Archives: food

Amazing Garlic Bread (with Roasted Garlic!)

This wonderful bread experience involves very simply roasting a couple heads of garlic and then slathering the results on the loaf before baking it. Roasting takes the pungency out of the garlic and makes the flavor mellow and deep.

The original recipe was called “Garlic Bread to Die For,” and though I wouldn’t die for it per se, I might at least faint a couple times for it provided there was a soft couch to fall on. Let’s make it!

Ingredients

2 heads garlic

2 TBS olive oil

2 sprigs rosemary, minced

1/3 c butter, room temperature

Pinch salt

1 baguette

First, preheat the oven to 400 F. Now let’s mince that rosemary.

Cut the tops off the two heads of garlic so that the cloves are exposed.

Create a loose tin foil wrapping for each head of garlic; pour a tablespoon of olive oil over each head, and press some of the minced rosemary on top.

Close up the tin foil packages and roast 40-50 minutes in a 400 F oven, until the garlic is getting soft (not crispy!).

When it’s done roasting, open up the little packages and let the garlic cool. Oh. It’s divine.

Once the garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze out the cloves into a small bowl.

Make sure no garlic skin sneaks in there!

Mash the pulp with a fork.

Add in the rest of the minced rosemary . . .

. . . as well as the butter, and a pinch of salt.

Continue mashing until it’s all combined.

If your loaf is on the large side, add more butter (up to 1/2 cup total) so that there is a generous amount of spread coating the entire surface.

Split the baguette in half lengthwise and spread the garlic mixture onto both halves.

I wrapped mine in aluminum foil, which keeps the bread soft, but you could probably bake yours unwrapped if you’re looking for a crispier experience. Next time I’ll try for the crispier experience.

Bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes, remove the bread and inhale deeply. Exert your self control so that at least some of the bread makes it to the table.

The butter has soaked into the bread, and I can’t think of anything else besides taking that first bite.

Cut it into chunks for easier serving.

If you’re into cheesy bread, for the last few minutes of baking time you can sprinkle on some Parmesan and crank up the broiler for a couple minutes.

I, however, was happy with this bread exactly as it was.

Dee-licious!

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The big questions of life

Alright folks. I need your help here. See, I live in an apartment with very little storage space in the kitchen.

Thanks to my parents and a timely trip to Ikea, a butcher’s block and a metal shelf have given us a little more room to stash our kitchen loot.

But as you can see, we’re not exactly swimming in space, especially when food prep is going on. (By the way, that’s One-Skillet Pasta Quattro Formaggi in the works, recipe forthcoming.)

My spice collection alone takes up the entire top section of the grid we built to serve as our ‘pantry.’

In fact, we had to move our microwave, mugs, tea supplies and coffee maker into the dining room because there’s simply no more room in the kitchen.

I’m a firm believer in non-gadgetry. Okay, maybe a semi-firm believer. But I really don’t want to clutter up my kitchen with appliances and kitchen fad gadgets I don’t use. That’s why the lazy Susan had to go. That’s why the George Foreman had to go. I simply didn’t use them.

However, I’ve been dreaming. And this dream includes a beautiful vision of a food processor (Cuisinart or KitchenAid). I’ve been going back and forth in my mind–will I use it enough to make it worth the space? Here are the things I would probably use it for: making Thai curry pastes; making Indian curry pastes; throwing together a pie crust with a few pulses; making wet rubs to slather on meat; making tapenades; making pesto.

Now I have done almost all these things either by hand or with a combination of knives, my mortar and pestle, and my blender. But see, this one machine would do it all! And–I think–save me time.

I really don’t know. I really just don’t know. I really, really, just don’t know (Monty Python, anyone?).

So I’m reaching out to you. I know I count many amazing (and some professional) cooks among my readers and friends, so please tell me: do you own a food processor? How often do you use it? Do I need one?

I really can’t make up my mind.

Love,

Helplessly Indecisive in the Kitchen (Chicago, IL)