Garlic already mashed comes in handy when you want to make garlic bread or don’t feel like peeling, dicing and mashing. Of course you could buy it pre-mashed in the jar from the grocery, and I often do that, but sometimes I just want fresh mashed. So this is how I do it.
You can purchase whole bulbs and peel your own, but it takes a lot of time. The grocery stores around where I live all sell containers of pre-peeled whole garlic cloves, which makes the mashing all that less time-consuming.
I also have a small food processor in addition to a large one, so can process small batches.
Process as much as you like. I buy a small container at a time so it doesn’t go bad. For this batch I used 0.365 lbs. Although 5.99 per pound sounds expensive, it actually isn’t because garlic doesn’t weigh much.
Creamy Garlic Mash
approx. 1 c. whole, peeled garlic cloves
approx. 1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1-2 ripe, juicy limes
approx. 1/3 c. white Balsamic vinegar
salt to taste
Place garlic cloves in food processor and process till diced.
Drizzle as much oil as you like into garlic and process till mealy.
Add the lime juice and as much white Balsamic vinegar as you like, then process till fairly smooth, but creamy.
I like to keep some texture in it, so people will know it’s garlic, but you do as you want. I haven’t tried extra creamy yet, but I will.
Salt to taste, process again, then transfer to covered container and refrigerate till ready to use.
This garlic preparation has a buttery look to it. It is potent, however, so be careful that you don’t use too much.
The first thing I do with it today is make garlic bread to go along with the Beyond Bolognese Pasta Sauce I made.
What you’ll need:
loaf of Italian bread, unsliced
margarine
extra virgin olive oil
Creamy Garlic Mash
fresh grind black pepper
fresh grind soy bacon bits
additional Creamy Garlic Mash
Take whole loaf of Italian bread and cut it in half, crosswise, then cut in half horizontally, producing 4 flat segments.
Spread margarine evenly on 2 segments, all the way to the edges.
Spread extra virgin olive oil on the remaining 2 segments, all the way to the edges. The best way to spread olive oil on bread is with a pastry brush, so you don’t use too much oil.
Now, spread about 1 tablespoon mashed garlic on each of the 4 segments.
Sprinkle each with fresh grind black pepper, then with fresh grind soy bacon bits.
Preheat broiler.
Place breads on rack over baking sheet. Place under broiler and broil till browned or till desired crispness is achieved.
It won’t take long, so stay in the kitchen. Remove from broiler. When not too hot to handle, spread another tablespoon Cream Garlic Mash across each segment, cut into strips and serve.
Use dipping sauce or serve as is.
As you can see, Steve and I like ours charred. if serving guests, I would be much more conservative with the char part.
Notes: I bought a second pepper mill just so I could fill it with dried soy bacon bits and grind them onto whatever I want. It keeps from experiencing the hard bits to the teeth and gums and allows for the flavor of the bits to emerge without having to soften them in a recipe first. It’s just a different way to garnish, that I happen to like.
