2015 begins!!
I'm such an inconsistent blogger that I expect my blog to be gone when I check in. Now that I'm retired maybe I'll be better at it? I was retired in July (6 months ago) which was my last post so maybe not! Denis and I have truly been enjoying cooking more than ever and I've missed posting some fabulous meals. Last night for dinner we had dry-rubbed baby back ribs, Southern-style green beans with ham hock and, because we've had so many potatoes lately, Linguine with Garlic Cream Sauce. I have no idea what Denis did to those ribs but they were wonderful. i'm also going to do a better job of following him around in the kitchen and documenting his cooking.An FYI, Fresh Market (http://www.thefreshmarket.com) has some fabulous deals on meat and other items. Yesterday we bought baby back ribs for $6.99 a a pound and sashimi grade tune was $10 for two seven ounce fillets. Those ribs were the meatiest best ribs we've had in a very long time. Sadly no pictures but I wanted to post the recipe for the pasta. It's worth it to roast the garlic and keep a stash in the refrigerator. It lasts for up to a month and adds so much flavor. If you haven't roasted garlic before, try it. Roasting takes all the harsh flavors away and leaves a creamy nutty yummy paste.
Recipe By: CooksIllustrated.com
Yield: 1 cup
Summary:
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Many roasted garlic recipes recommend drizzling garlic with olive oil, wrapping it in aluminum foil, and tossing it in the oven but we found this method to be unreliable and it also sometimes gave the garlic a bitter taste. One reason garlic can be tricky to roast is that it is relatively dry. To add some moisture to the garlic in our roasted garlic recipe, we poached it in milk, producing a final product that was beautifully golden in color and perfectly tender.
Ingredients:
4 heads garlic
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons olive oil or melted butter
Directions:
1. 1. Loosen papery outside skin by rolling each head of garlic back and forth across a cutting surface; rub away loose skin. Cut off about 1/2 inch from tip end of each garlic head with a sharp knife, so that most clove interiors are exposed and garlic heads sit straight (see illustration 1, below).
2. 2. Place garlic heads, cut side down, in a medium saucepan. Add milk and bring to simmer. Poach garlic over low heat, until softened slightly, about 10 minutes. Drain garlic (reserve milk if making Linguine with Garlic Cream Sauce, see related recipe) and rinse under cold running water to remove milk residue.
3. 3. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1 head of garlic in the center of an 8-inch square of aluminum foil. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon oil over the garlic. Gather the corners of the foil over garlic; twist to seal. Repeat with remaining heads of garlic and oil.
4. 4. Roast garlic packets in a small baking dish until garlic is very soft, about 1 hour. Let packets cool. Remove from foil. Squeeze out softened garlic by hand or with the flat edge of a chef’s knife, starting from the root end of the head and working down (see illustrations 2 and 3, below). Transfer garlic puree to a small bowl. Mash garlic with a fork or with the back of a wooden spoon to fully puree, if desired. Continue with one of the following recipes, or store puree in a small jar; top with olive oil. (The puree can be stored at room temperature for 1 week or refrigerated up to 1 month.)
Notes:
Use this roasted garlic paste as you would use minced raw garlic -- in salad dressings, pasta sauces, and salsa. You can grill the garlic as well -- just cook the packets, covered, over a medium-hot fire about one hour, or two hours over slow coals
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR ROASTED GARLIC
1. Before poaching the garlic, slice off about one-half inch from the top of the head, making sure that the tips of almost all the cloves are exposed.
2. After poaching and roasting, you can easily press the softened cloves out of their skins with the back of a knife.
3. It is equally easy, if slightly messier, to remove the cloves from their skins by pushing up from the root end of the garlic head with your fingers.
Linguine with Garlic Cream Sauce
Recipe By: CooksIllustrated.com
Yield: Serves 4-6
Summary:
Why this recipe works:
Many roasted garlic recipes recommend drizzling garlic with olive oil, wrapping it in aluminum foil, and tossing it in the oven but we found this method to be unreliable and it also sometimes gave the garlic a bitter taste. One reason garlic can be tricky to roast is that it is relatively dry. To add some moisture to the garlic in our roasted garlic recipe, we poached it in milk—producing a final product that was beautifully golden in color and perfectly tender.
Ingredients:
1 cup milk (reserved from garlic poaching)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh oregano leaves, minced, or 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 cup roasted garlic puree
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and ground black pepper
1 lb. linguine
Directions:
1. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a large soup kettle.
2. Bring milk, cream, red pepper, and oregano to boil in a medium saucepan; simmer, whisking constantly, until milk mixture reduces by half. Lower heat; whisk in garlic puree until sauce emulsifies slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste; cover and keep warm.
3. Meanwhile add 1 tablespoon salt and the linguine to the boiling water; boil until linguine is just tender, 7 to 9 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving some of the cooking water. Toss linguine with sauce. If the sauce is too thick to coat pasta evenly, add the cooking water 1 tablespoon at a time. Serve with additional finely grated Parmesan and ground black pepper.
Notes:
Although this pasta dish is not totally cream-free, the garlic puree (see related recipe) and poaching milk make appealing and tasty substitutes for the amounts of cream and butter usually found in standard Alfredo-style sauces.
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