5 recipes for garlic

With a garden full of garlic that's starting to make the dirt smell edible, our food blogger dreams of what she'll do with it once it has been picked.

Wed, Apr 18 2012 at 3:35 PM

Related Topics:

Organic Cooking, Recipes, Vegetarianism & Veganism

Photo: Mo Riza/flickr

I recently raked off the pile of leaves that had been protecting my garlic patch all winter and with every pull of the rake came the scent of garlic rising from the dirt. It was heavenly. This is my first attempt at growing garlic, and it seems to be going very well. I won’t know how well it's really going for about another two months, when the garlic is ready to be pulled.

In anticipation of the garlic that will be overflowing my home in a couple of months, I’ve been looking at recipes that use garlic. Once my garlic is ready, I think I’m going to have a party where every dish is loaded with garlic.

Some of you may be fortunate enough to live in areas of the country where garlic is already in season. If you are, perhaps you can use one of these recipes now.

Two Leeks + Two Garlic Soup – Leeks and roasted garlic together? Oh, yum! This soup calls for potatoes and cream, so it’s going to be hearty and thick. Topped with some optional pancetta, it looks like an amazing dish.
Crab Garlic Noodles – Garlic is cooked in butter and then a little brown sugar and soy sauce are added to create a sauce for noodles topped with crab. The brown sugar and soy sauce are what intrigue me about this recipe, adding a little Asian flare to it.
Grilled Garlic Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar – Truth be told, I'm not that crazy about asparagus but my husband loves it. I’m always looking for a way to prepare it that may appeal to me. Cooking it with garlic might just do the trick.
Grilled Eggplant with Roast Garlic Dressing – A dressing is made with an entire head of roasted garlic, and it’s drizzled onto eggplant and red onions that have been diced and tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and grilled.
Roasted Garlic and Onion Jam – Caramelized onions get dressed up with roasted garlic and a few other ingredients to make a jam that’s great on paninis, grilled cheese, pizza, or anywhere else you’d use caramelized onions.

After looking through all the garlic recipes to find these, I am really hungry. How would you use up your garlic if you had a garden full of it?

Also on MNN: 5 simple ways to cook veggies

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Comments: 3

Miss Pat Apr 21 2012 at 9:15 AM

In our house, you chop the garlic and onions, saute them, and then decide what you are making for dinner. Susan Whittig Albert posted a super garlic-cream cheese spread on her weekly email, Abouthyme.com. The garlic-scape pesto looks really interesting. Pesto is another staple in our kitchen

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westomoon Apr 20 2012 at 9:22 PM

For garlic-growers, I can heartily recommend garlic-scape pesto. It's made with scapes, walnuts, olive oil, parmesan, and salt. It's a bit of work up front -- scapes are tough, and need to be cut up small to blend into a smooth paste -- but so worth it! You use it like normal basil pesto -- on pasta, veggies, eggs, etc. It freezes well, and is a lovely reminder of early summer in the midst of winter. Search out any recipe. I have found (to my surprise) that walnuts taste best with scapes,

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and I think it benefits from the addition of some dried herbs and a drop of balsamic. If garlic grows well for you, keep your eye peeled for good local varieties at farm stands & farmers' markets. I picked up a couple of heads of a truly wonderful nameless local heirloom garlic years ago, and have been growing it ever since -- because, of course, the best thing about growing garlic is that you only have to buy it once. After that, you just plant the best & brightest of this year's crop for next year.