A multitude of foods are associated with Christmas - fruitcake, ham or turkey, sugar cookies, eggnog, etc, but this year, a new food was added to our list: garlic. The garlic-themed day began when Zach discovered the apparent wonders of consuming raw garlic cloves - yes, that's correct,
raw garlic. It began innocently enough, when Zach and Scott set about creating an olive oil, herb, and garlic dip for the latest batch of
Daily Focaccia I'd baked in the morning. First they added some garlic pesto, then decided to infuse a bit more garlic intensity with a pressed garlic clove...
Then some garlic slices were added... and finally Zach popped an entire clove on a bit of focaccia... Apparently the result was so satisfactory that he was soon sampling the raw cloves
minus the focaccia...
I shouldn't sound too shocked, and honestly, I wasn't, given that the occasional raw garlic clove - wrapped in a bit of olive oil drenched fresh pita - wouldn't be amiss at an Israeli breakfast table, but I don't think I could ever match Zach's consumption of
an entire head of garlic yesterday evening...
While I am fully atuned to the health benifits of garlic, personally, I preferred the alternate mode of garlic consumption offered on our Christmas menu, namely Julia Child's Garlic Mashed Potatoes.
While visiting my parents a few days ago,
(here's Zach sampling his first local microbrewery Baltimore beer)
(and hanging out with my parents' dog Marigold, who happens to be The Perfect Lap Dog, content to snuggle for countless hours)
we happened to catch a glimpse of a black and white Julia Child episode in which she, with characteristic aplomb, prepared Puree de Pommes de Terre a L'ail - garlic mashed potatoes. Honestly, any potato recipe that begins with "now prepare 28 cloves of garlic" is bound to catch our attention, and, well, this was Julia. When Julia tells you to put 30 cloves of garlic in your potatoes, you put 30 cloves of garlic in your potatoes.
Instantly, her potatoes were added to our Christmas menu.
(Christmas was held at Scott's house - here are Scott and I perusing an incredible encyclopedia of game recipes)
The grand menu consisted of:
Red Velvet CakePecan PieBanana Bread(we're southern - even though dessert may be consumed last, you have to at least honor it by listing it first! :-) Buttered Biscuits
Tenderloin Glazed with Garlic Jam
Broccoli Salad
(A masterpiece that Scott created in celebration of his first access to fresh broccoli after Hurricane Katrina) Green Onion Rice Dressing
Sweet Potato and Pineapple Puree
Pickled Asparagus
and... of course...
Julia Child's Garlic Mashed Potatoes (our version, with a few minor changes such as half and half instead of whole whipping cream)
30 cloves of garlic
8 T butter, divided
2 T flour
1 cup milk
2-1/2 lbs baking potatoes [we don't peel ours...]
4 T half and half
~ Separate and peel the garlic cloves.
~ In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan with a lid: cook garlic slowly in 4 T. butter - covered - for about 20 minutes until the garlic is soft but not browned.
~ Add the flour to the garlic and stir over low heat for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in milk and salt and pepper to taste. Return to heat and simmer for 1 minute, stirring.
~ Puree the garlic mixture in a food processor, taking care to provide an escape route for the steam.
~ Cook the potatoes as desired, either boiling or "baking" them in the microwave.
~ Drain and mash the potatoes with the remaining 4 T butter and the half and half, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
~ Beat in the garlic sauce, and serve warm...
*As I'm sure you can gather from the recipe, these are Extremely Rich potatoes (it is Julia, after all :-) and not something I'd likely serve on a
regular, non-holiday basis... For Daily Garlic Potatoes, I'm planning on preparing the recipe with our light, non-hydrogenated, olive oil-based vegan marg, and milk (or soymilk, for
The Vegan Version ) instead of the half and half... and I'm completely confident that garlicky deliciousness with still result in all its glory. *
Merry Christmas and Happy Chaunkkah from Zach and I to all of our wonderful blogger friends!
A multitude of foods are associated with Christmas - fruitcake, ham or turkey, sugar cookies, eggnog, etc, but this year, a new food was added to our list: garlic. The garlic-themed day began when Zach discovered the apparent wonders of consuming raw garlic cloves - yes, that's correct, raw garlic. It began innocently enough, when Zach and Scott set about creating an olive oil, herb, and garlic dip for the latest batch of Daily Focaccia I'd baked in the morning. First they added some garlic pesto, then decided to infuse a bit more garlic intensity with a pressed garlic clove...
Then some garlic slices were added... and finally Zach popped an entire clove on a bit of focaccia... Apparently the result was so satisfactory that he was soon sampling the raw cloves minus the focaccia...
I shouldn't sound too shocked, and honestly, I wasn't, given that the occasional raw garlic clove - wrapped in a bit of olive oil drenched fresh pita - wouldn't be amiss at an Israeli breakfast table, but I don't think I could ever match Zach's consumption of an entire head of garlic yesterday evening...
While I am fully atuned to the health benifits of garlic, personally, I preferred the alternate mode of garlic consumption offered on our Christmas menu, namely Julia Child's Garlic Mashed Potatoes.
While visiting my parents a few days ago,
(and hanging out with my parents' dog Marigold, who happens to be The Perfect Lap Dog, content to snuggle for countless hours)
we happened to catch a glimpse of a black and white Julia Child episode in which she, with characteristic aplomb, prepared Puree de Pommes de Terre a L'ail - garlic mashed potatoes. Honestly, any potato recipe that begins with "now prepare 28 cloves of garlic" is bound to catch our attention, and, well, this was Julia. When Julia tells you to put 30 cloves of garlic in your potatoes, you put 30 cloves of garlic in your potatoes.
Instantly, her potatoes were added to our Christmas menu.
(Christmas was held at Scott's house - here are Scott and I perusing an incredible encyclopedia of game recipes)
The grand menu consisted of:
Pecan Pie
Banana Bread
(we're southern - even though dessert may be consumed last, you have to at least honor it by listing it first! :-)
Buttered Biscuits
Tenderloin Glazed with Garlic Jam
Broccoli Salad (A masterpiece that Scott created in celebration of his first access to fresh broccoli after Hurricane Katrina)
Green Onion Rice Dressing
Sweet Potato and Pineapple Puree
Pickled Asparagus
and... of course...
Julia Child's Garlic Mashed Potatoes (our version, with a few minor changes such as half and half instead of whole whipping cream)
30 cloves of garlic
8 T butter, divided
2 T flour
1 cup milk
2-1/2 lbs baking potatoes [we don't peel ours...]
4 T half and half
~ Separate and peel the garlic cloves.
~ In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan with a lid: cook garlic slowly in 4 T. butter - covered - for about 20 minutes until the garlic is soft but not browned.
~ Add the flour to the garlic and stir over low heat for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in milk and salt and pepper to taste. Return to heat and simmer for 1 minute, stirring.
~ Puree the garlic mixture in a food processor, taking care to provide an escape route for the steam.
~ Cook the potatoes as desired, either boiling or "baking" them in the microwave.
~ Drain and mash the potatoes with the remaining 4 T butter and the half and half, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
~ Beat in the garlic sauce, and serve warm...
*As I'm sure you can gather from the recipe, these are Extremely Rich potatoes (it is Julia, after all :-) and not something I'd likely serve on a regular, non-holiday basis... For Daily Garlic Potatoes, I'm planning on preparing the recipe with our light, non-hydrogenated, olive oil-based vegan marg, and milk (or soymilk, for The Vegan Version ) instead of the half and half... and I'm completely confident that garlicky deliciousness with still result in all its glory. *
Merry Christmas and Happy Chaunkkah from Zach and I to all of our wonderful blogger friends!