Garlic's Up!

Move beyond "supermarket garlic" - Grow your own!

Our herb garden. There should always be a stand of garlic (back center) in everyone's garden!

Garlic, is the go-to herb for so many dishes in so many different cultures. It is something both omnivores and vegetarians can agree on. Garlic brings its distinctive flavor, earthy aroma and subtle nuances to anything you use it with, giving wonderful character and depth of flavor to meats, seafood, vegetables, sauces, marinades, rubs, dressings, oil infusions, soups, stocks and stews, you name it. It is pungent when raw, mellow when cooked and rich and nutty when roasted and caramelized. It can be sweet and delicate or bold and lusty - it all depends on how it's treated, capice?

And, let's not forget it's health benefits. Whole books have been written about garlic's health and therapeutic value. Garlic has long been known for its antibacterial and antiviral properties. Studies have also shown that garlic has important cardio-protective properties in the form of blood cell and blood vessel protection from inflammatory and oxidative stress.

So, yes, we LOVE garlic here! For cooking and our health. We've been growing garlic as a staple in our garden for quite a few years, playing with different varieties - there are many, many varieties of garlic, each with it's own flavor "personality". This year we are growing Chesnok Red about 50 heads in all. Here's a little video of our garlic - 

These should be ready to pull in about a month or so. But in the meantime we can use the scapes! That's another cool thing about growing your own garlic - you get to enjoy the scapes.  Scapes are the tall curled flower bearing shoots that pop up in the center of the garlic plant and emerge from the center of the leaves. We snip them off before they become a flower so the garlic plant can devote all its energy to producing bigger garlic heads with more cloves. If you want to grow garlic for the seeds, you can let the scapes mature and flower then collect the seeds. We like to eat the scapes though. They are delicious and can be used just like garlic and they are ready a month or two before the garlic is ready to harvest. They look like this -   

Here is a link to a fun article about garlic scapes and how to prepare and enjoy them -

7 Things to do with Garlic Scapes - Recipes

Here is the garlic from back in Georgia a couple years ago

Harvest time!

Garlic hanging in our kitchen

If you love garlic too, or maybe you're a little garlic shy or are just garlic curious, check back on this blog because we will be posting creative ways to use and enjoy garlic as well as tips on growing-your-own. 

Here is a link to our favorite source for garlic planting stock =  The Garlic Store

They have a great variety of hard neck and soft neck garlic varieties with helpful descriptions of their taste and flavor. They are a one-stop garlic shop for growers, gourmets, gardeners, garlic Lovers, and garlic gifts! 

Colatura di Alici

This looks like a simple bowl of spaghetti with garlic and olive oil doesn't it? This one is a little different though, because it has a wonderful added ingredient - colatura di alici. Colatura di alici is what you might call 'liquid essence of anchovy'. It is a fish sauce made using an ancient process dating back to the days of the Roman Empire. The Romans called it garum and it was used as a seasoning in most things they ate. Fresh caught anchovies are cured with salt inside barrels for forty days. The liquid is then strained off and aged again in wooden barrels for upwards of a year, then bottled. This amazing liquid is used to dress pasta, salads, fish, roast chicken, cooked vegetables. As you might expect, it is quite salty and has a strong aroma that thankfully - almost magically - changes when added to food to give it an exotic richness. A little goes a long way. You can order colatura online from Italian specialty food sites or from Amazon. Don't be afraid of it!

Here is a video showing the method I wanted to use as a guide but made a few adjustments. See my notes below using less colatura and adding a little lemon juice and lemon zest and sauteing the garlic.

Ingredients:

1 pound linguine or spaghetti

1+ teaspoon  colatura 

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest from 1 lemon

2 cloves of garlic sliced very thin

Crushed red chili pepper flakes, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

1/2 cup minced fresh flat leaf parsley
Toasted plain breadcrumbs

In a frying pan with medium heat saute the garlic in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil for 2 - 3 minutes, just enough to take the edge off.

Cook pasta in UNSALTED boiling water according to package directions until al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine colatura, lemon juice, garlic, chili pepper and black pepper. Add a little cold water and whisk vigorously to emulsify.

Drain pasta, and add it to bowl, tossing well.

Drizzle in a little more olive oil and more parsley, toss to combine, and taste. Then say Wow!

Sprinkle with toasted breadcrumbs but DO NOT TOP WITH GRATED CHEESE

Serve warm or at room temperature.