Garlic is a great tool to enhance a wide range of dishes, and it is easy to use. When I was first cooking for my family, I used it in almost every dish. Now after 30 years of experience, I find that there are some flavor profiles that get buried if garlic takes over the dish. I still use it frequently, but not universally.
Here are two simple dishes that feature garlic that I posted last year.
Why yes, and I did so tonight. Here's the simple dish I prepared if anyone else would like to know.
muon's farfalle pomodoro
Start a pot of water to boil.
Chop 1 ripe tomato into small pieces (think bruscetta size) and use a second if you want more flavor.
Chop 6 basil leaves and mince 1 clove of garlic.
Add 1 lb of farfalle (bow tie) pasta and a teaspoon of salt to the boiling water and stir to loosen the pasta.
Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a small pan.
Add the minced garlic and black pepper to the hot oil then stir for about a minute.
Stir the farfalle again to keep it loose.
Add the chopped tomatoes and basil to the hot oil and stir for two minutes, then turn off the heat.
Grate a half cup of parmesan cheese.
Stir the farfalle again, and after 12 minutes (Chicago altitude) remove from the heat.
Drain the pasta and return to the pan.
Add the tomato mix to the pasta and stir with additional salt to taste.
Stir in the grated cheese and serve.
muon, that sounds absolutely amazing.
Do you have any recipes that call for white wine? I have some chardonnay that I'd like to use up but for various reasons don't want to actually drink.
That would probably work well for muon's chicken limone.
Cut a pound of chicken breasts into finger-sized strips (cutlets work well as a starting point).
Spread on a flat easy to clean surface a cup of flour mixed with white pepper and sea salt.
Dredge the chicken strips in the flour.
Lightly saute the chicken in a large pan, turning the pieces and remove just before they would begin to brown (about 2 minutes per side).
Cut a half a sweet onion into small pieces and mince two cloves of garlic.
Saute the onion and garlic in the same large pan.
When the onions have softened (but not caramelized) add a half cup of white wine and the juice of a whole lemon.
Turn down the heat to simmer and return the chicken to the pan.
Add a teaspoon of dried thyme and a teaspoon of capers and cover the pan to steam the chicken for 10 minutes.
Chop a half cup of fresh parsley and add it after the 10 minutes.
Steam for another 2-5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
Serve with rice or a small pasta like orzo and preferably a chilled white wine (that you would drink).
BTW this can be converted easily into muon's chicken piccata by using whole cutlets lightly browned, black pepper instead of white, using shallots, green onions and garlic in a butter saute, skipping the thyme, and putting slices of whole lemon on the chicken as it steams (but for about 5 minutes less time since the cutlets were browned in this version).
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