How to use garlic- suggestions please

[Rave]

I've acquired 30 bulbs of garlic which I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with. I though about making some garlic oil for salads, what's the best way to do this? Any other good things to use it for? I might end up just frying a load of it, I love it like that .

Rich :¬)

[Nick]

To make garlic oil get yourself some decent quality olive oil. Look ofr an oil with a dark greenish colour as this will have the most flavour. Pour enough oil out of the bottle to leave room for the garlic. Bring a small pan of water to the boil and then drop in peeled, trimmed whole cloves of garlic. Cook for about a minute then drain and pop the garlic into the oil. Avoid using any bruised or discoloured cloves. Leave to steep for at least two weeks.

To use up the rest, how about roasting the bulbs whole with a bit of olive oil for about 40 minutes to an hour... then you can just pull the cloves off the bulb, give em a squeeze and they pop right out. They taste great, not overpowering at all.

You could make your own stir fry oil too. Take 1/4 sesame oil to 3/4 vegetable oil. Chuck in a bulb of garlic, peeled down to its individual cloves... add a cinnamon stick, coriander seeds and either some chilli flakes or a fresh chilli and then warm all of that over a very low heat for about half an hour. Transfer to a bottle or jar along with all the bits and then use as needed.

[Rave]

Great, thanks a lot. The roasted garlic would go well with lamb, I'll bet.

How much garlic should I use for a litre of garlic oil? I'd want it strong but not too killer. And how much oil do you need for the stir fry oil? A litre again? My wife would like that probably, she's keen on stir fries.

Thanks again,

Rich :¬)

[floppybootstomp]

Mash it up and eat it.

Garlic is good for you, but not particularly too good for your social life (oh, hello, Mr whiffy breath)

I like garlic

(disclaimer: good grief, I believe I'm intoxicated)

[directhex]

i'm half french! add half a bulb to _EVERYTHING_ you cook

[scottyman]

ditto - but I'm a kiwi!
Roasted, Pickled (no - not talking about floppy!), crushed or minced - it goes well with pretty much everything.
One of my best recipes for roast chook is three small bulbs of winter garlic, peeled with a lemon cut into eighths (maybe some lime and coriander too) - stuff the chicken with that and roast for about 15-20 minutes longer than normal (i.e. to account for the weight of the stuffing - makes cooking slightly longer) - brush your parboiled taters with a garlic, rosemary and olive oil (NOT extra-virgin! - flavour of the oil is slightly too overpowering) and roast for an hour and 20 mins. Nice and crispy - have that with some nice fresh broccoli (sp?) - it's stunning - plus quick and easy too!
the garlic comes out nice and soft and squishy, which you can use as a butter for the bread if you've got leftover chicken. Or just eat them whole. Once they're cooked, they're odourless, but retain the flavour.

Will dig out my recipe for aioli, which is superb (no where as good as official french stuff, but making it yourself definitely helps!)

[Nick]

Great, thanks a lot. The roasted garlic would go well with lamb, I'll bet.

How much garlic should I use for a litre of garlic oil? I'd want it strong but not too killer. And how much oil do you need for the stir fry oil? A litre again? My wife would like that probably, she's keen on stir fries.

Thanks again,

Rich :¬)

Depends how strong you want it... don't forget, if you've got masses of garlic to use up, there's nothing to stop you making a really strong oil and then watering that down with more oil as you use it.

I'd go for about three bulbs worth of cloves to a litre of oil for garlic oil. Oh and yes, go for a litre of stir fry oil.

[Rave]

Cheers guys. I'd better get my lazy backside into the kitchen! Final question: is there a good way to store garlic to stop it going green and sprouting? Even with all these good ideas it'll be a while before we eat it all!

Rich :¬)

[Nick]

Best way to keep it is in a cool, dark and not too damp place.

[scottyman]

also, elephant garlic if you can find it - great for roasting.
Awesome with a decent sized chunk of beef, or leg of lamb, it's got a much more rounded flavour, and the cloves are finger sized! *grin* very tasty for a winter meal!

[kushtibari]

quite like a couple of breasts of chicken dusted with flour, browned on each side for a few minutes in a wok then throw in about a dozen cloves with their skins on. shoogle it about for a couple of minutes then add3tbs stock, 2 rice wine and 1 soy sauce. Cover and cook slowly for about half an hour. I do it with mashed potatos and you can squeeze garlic puree out of the skins and mix it in with the potatos.
or you can be like my 5 year old boy and just squeeze the garlic out and eat it on it's own. He stinks his room out for a week at a time doing that.

[Nick]

shoogle

Now THAT is a word I like.... excellent!

[Angus]

Somebody scared of the vamps around here??

Once saw a recipe that used about 20 cloves of garlic

I'll ask charlotte about it later - she almost cooked it. My opinion is you can have too much of a good thing.

[scottyman]

Do not listen to the man with the funny looking Sporran!
It's all lies folks - Garlic is our friend!

[Blub2k]

I'm gonna post a recipe for a really garliccy dip later and it is nice nice nice.

watch out in the cook book

cant remember the exact recipe so will check this evening and post tomorrow, more than likely, is a nice one for any garlic lovers and will scare your friends

[kushtibari]

Not a recipe but a version on garlic.........bread? (as peter kaye might say). Instead of making bog standard garlic bread melt a big dod o butter in a small pan - add a humungous amount of chopped garlic and cook a little, add a big handful of chopped parsley and then put it in a hot bowl in the middle of the table. Put big chunks of hot crusty bread out and then you just dunk your bread as you go along. Allows for strange people who don't like too much garlic and those that eat it by the bucket load.