L ifestyle /C ulture
Garlic — October’s Delicious Secret
F OO D
LINDA MOREL | JE FOOD COLUMNIST
BECAUSE YOU CAN buy
perfectly pungent garlic all
year, who knew the tastiest
garlic of the year is flooding
markets this month?
Many people object to
slicing, dicing or crushing
garlic in a press because its
assertive smell sticks to their
fingers, along with the tissue
paper-like skin covering each
clove. Yet the very same people
swoon when they catch a
tantalizing whiff of garlic as it
mellows during cooking.

Often sneered at as the
stinking rose, no ingredient is
as misunderstood as the lowly
garlic clove. Yet it’s ubiquitous
— the ingredient that’s the
most versatile and flavorful,
elevating dishes from bland
to spectacular. Garlic enriches
salad dressings, marinades,
casseroles, stews, pasta sauces,
roasted vegetables, fish, meat,
guacamole, hummus, baba
ghanoush and so much more.

Despite garlic’s robust
reputation, almost every savory
recipe starts with a clove or two
of garlic. Cookbook author Ina
Garten raises the ante in her
Chicken with Forty Cloves of
Garlic recipe, which dazzles
anyone lucky enough to eat it.

Overpowering aroma aside,
garlic is actually delicate.

When heat hits garlic, it can
burn easily. On a dime, garlic
turns from sumptuous to bitter.

While handling fresh garlic
is challenging, jarred minced
garlic is a big disappointment,
especially since it’s so easy to
preserve fresh garlic cloves in
a jar of olive oil. Store-bought
peeled garlic is a good compro-
mise, but the cloves need to be
consumed quickly before they
turn. In the movie “Goodfellas,”
Mafioso Paulie performed a
ritual every night in prison
as he prepared dinner for his
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM buddies. With a razor blade,
he sliced garlic cloves so
thin that they liquefied in a
pool of olive oil warmed in
a skillet. Although his ethics
were shaky, he gave garlic the
respect it deserves.

SAUTÉED GARLIC IN OLIVE
OIL | PAREVE OR DAIRY
Yield: ¼ cup
6-8 garlic cloves
¼ cup olive oil
Kosher salt to taste
Chop the garlic fine or
squeeze it through a garlic
press. Place it in a bowl.

In a small saucepan, heat
the olive oil over a medium-low
flame until warm. Spoon the
garlic into the oil. Sprinkle it
with salt. Stir it for a minute or
two, until the garlic is fragrant.

Remove it from the flame
before it burns or overcooks.

Serve the garlic over a
pound of pasta, goat cheese,
feta cheese or plain yogurt.

Brush it onto sourdough toast
and serve it as an hors d’oeu-
vres. This can be made a week
in advance if covered and
refrigerated. Return the garlic
to room temperature or gently
reheat it before using.

Meanwhile, cut the florets
off of the broccoli stems. If
some are larger than bite-sized,
cut them into halves or thirds.

Reserve. Chop the garlic finely or
squeeze it through a garlic
press. Reserve it in a medium-
sized bowl. Cut the onion into
thin slices, and add it to the
bowl. Pour 3 tablespoons of olive
oil into a medium-large skillet.

Heat it over a medium-low
flame. Add the broccoli and stir.

Cover the skillet and braise the
broccoli until softened, about 8
minutes. Stir occasionally, and
add more oil, if needed. Move
the broccoli to a bowl.

Pour in 2 tablespoons olive
oil. Add the garlic and onions.

Stir almost constantly. The
onions will naturally break into
rings. When this mixture is
fragrant, return the broccoli to
the skillet. Remove the skillet
from the heat, and cover it.

When the water comes to
a boil, add the ziti and cook
it according to the package
instructions. Drain it in a
colander, and move it to a
pasta bowl. Place the garlic
broccoli mixture on top. Serve
it with a generous amount of
Parmigiano cheese, if desired.

ROASTED AUTUMN
VEGETABLES AND GARLIC |
PAREVE Serves 4-6 as a side dish
Nonstick vegetable spray
2 zucchini, cut into 1-inch
chunks 8 ounces whole white
mushrooms 1 large onion, cut into
6 wedges
8-10 fingerling potatoes
1 large red pepper, cleaned
and cut into 6-8 slices
⅓ cup olive oil, or more,
if needed
Kosher salt to taste
10 whole cloves of garlic
Preheat your oven to 400
degrees F. Coat a roasting pan
with nonstick vegetable spray.

Reserve. Arrange the vegetables
— except the garlic — in the
roasting pan. Drizzle them with
olive oil. The vegetables should
be generously coated with oil.

Sprinkle them with salt.

Place the pan in the oven
and roast, adding olive oil if
the vegetables get a little dry.

Turn the vegetables every
10 minutes or so. After 35
minutes, sprinkle around the
garlic cloves. Coat them with
olive oil.

Roast the vegetables for
another 10 minutes, checking
the garlic every 3 minutes to
make sure it doesn’t overcook.

If the garlic is ready before the
vegetables, remove it from the
pan. The recipe is ready when
the vegetables, particularly the
potatoes, are soft in the center.

Serve immediately or cool
it to room temperature and
serve. GARLIC-INFUSED OLIVE OIL |
PAREVE Yield: 1 cup infused olive oil
1 cup olive oil
12 whole garlic cloves,
skinned Pour the olive oil into a
small jar, such as an empty jelly
jar. Add the garlic cloves and
seal. Store this way for at least 3
days at room temperature.

The oil can be used in salad
dressings or for cooking. The
garlic can be used for cooking
as well. Once you start making
this infusion, you will have it
on hand all the time. l
ZITI WITH GARLIC AND
BROCCOLI | PAREVE
Serves 4-6
2 drops olive oil, plus
3 tablespoons, plus
2 tablespoons, or more
if needed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 head of broccoli
8-10 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion
1 pound ziti
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Fill a large pot with water.

Add 2 drops of olive oil and
the kosher salt. Cover the pot,
and bring it to a boil over a
high flame.

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JEWISH EXPONENT
OCTOBER 14, 2021
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