From a "head" of garlic come "cloves" -- a large clove of garlic on the left, and small clove on the right, and some of the "paper" of the garlic head has been peeled off

I love garlic. Just the right amount of garlic, that is. There is a restaurant nearby (or 100 restaurants) that has taken the public’s love of garlic to the extreme — they are quite simply overdoing it, and that gives garlic a bad name. They have gallons of pre-chopped garlic on hand, so the temptation to slop just a little more each time into that pasta dish or onto that pizza has resulted in a garlic knock-down, and you come out smelling like the stuff.

Rules of thumb: mince, chop or whatever you’re doing to the garlic just before using it. It’ll be fresher and less bitter. Resist the urge to go wild with it, and exercise restraint if you’re using it raw. Rub your fingers with a lemon wedge to get rid of the smell, unless you like it on your hands!

Raw garlic can have a caffeine effect on some folks, so keep it to a dull roar. I had just discovered the wonderful technique of rubbing the cut side of a garlic clove onto toasted and oiled bread, but I wasn’t given the instruction to use one clove of garlic for, say, 12 to 15 pieces of bread — maybe not even a whole clove is needed. Just a brush-by, not a grind. Anyway, I must have used several cloves, and wow, those crostini were crazy-strong. We ate ‘em up, and then I was awake all night with a very stimulated heart rate and some breath that would have been enough for any vampire.

Moderation = Love.

Roasted garlic = Passion.

I really want one to myself, but I will share

How to Peel, Chop, Mince, Paste and Roast Garlic

Regular garlic has smallish cloves, 12 to 15 of them per head. Look for a compact, firm, non-sprouting head for the freshest flavor. Elephant garlic is something between a leek and garlic, bearing some flavor resemblance. Its big cloves are milder but can be used in the same way.

If you need only a clove, peel away some of the paper and snap one off of the outside of the head. To break up the head, turn it to angle down against the board and give it a good whack. One way is to hold the heel of your hand against the garlic, and use the other hand as the “hammer.”

Turn the head at a downward angle to the board and give it a good smack with the heel of your hand

The cloves will easily break off the root. They can be used just like this — with the paper on — to roast with chicken or meat. Then you will squeeze the pulpy garlic out of the paper to eat with the chicken.

To remove the paper from an individual clove, place the flat side of a chef’s knife on top of the clove and give it (again!) a good whack to crack the paper. Depending on how hard you’ve whacked it, the clove will either be whole or impressively smashed.

Just a firm pop with the heel of your and will crack the paper

Trim off the root and pull away the paper.

This one I gave a mild whack, so the garlic clove is fairly intact but the paper peels right off -- when you trim off the root the paper will come away completely

Four degrees of strength applied to the whack on the knife gives you cloves ranging from intact to smashed

A whole, intact garlic clove can go right into a stew or sauce, which can be removed before serving. I like to split them so that the oils come through but they are still easy to find when I want to take them out. Cook whole cloves gently in butter and cream for half an hour to mash and add to mashed potatoes. Slice whole cloves for the basic Italian aglio/olio combination, which I use for pasta, boiled potatoes, and countless other dishes that would be good with some garlicky oil.

Make the classic pasta sauce, aglio, olio e peperoncino, by gently cooking sliced garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil

Cook it gently because garlic gets bitter if overcooked

From here, depending on how far along the initial smash takes you, you can chop (large dry chunks), mince (small dry chunks), or mince to a paste (gooey and pasty). The helpful ingredient in any of these processes is salt, which makes the garlic a little sticky and prevents the little bits from flying around on the board.

This is a medium-smashed clove of garlic -- sprinkle just a tiny pinch of salt on it before chopping

The salt makes it a little sticky and helps the garlic cling to the knife -- this is chopped and can be used in any recipe that calls for chopped garlic

Use the knife to "gather up" the garlic as you keep chopping it -- this is minced at this stage

To move to the paste stage, smash the minced garlic against the board with the side of the knife, breaking the chunks down, and then continue to chop it, alternating between the two

This is pretty pasty, and will melt nicely into a dish where you don't want the garlic to have an obvious presence

Roasting garlic renders it so tame and mild and sweet, a delicious condiment for a hunk of great Italian bread. Hard to say how many to make, but I would easily eat half a head of it, with no adverse effects.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line custard cups or muffin tin cups with foil (for easier cleanup). Use fresh, whole, intact heads of garlic. Peel away the outside papery layers, but leave the cloves attached. Trim just the top of the garlic head, leaving most of the cloves covered with their paper.

Some recipes instruct you to cut a lot off the top, but I like to let the garlic cook inside its own paper

Place the garlic in the cup and drizzle it with a teaspoon or so of olive oil, aiming for the spaces between the cloves. Rub the outside layers to coat. Sprinkle with sea salt and place a rosemary sprig under the head if desired.

Try to drizzle between the cloves

After rubbing with oil, sprinkle the garlic head with sea salt and tuck a rosemary sprig underneath

Cook the garlic for 34 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, checking to make sure it isn’t getting burned. Cover lightly with foil if it’s getting too brown.

Remove and serve on plate, drizzled with the olive oil that has collected at the bottom of the cup.

Garlic = Life.

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Your kitchen will smell like a fantastic campfire cookout without the smoke -- mild Anaheim chile on the left and pasilla on the right

Summer meals cry out for the sweet, smoky flavor of roasted peppers. They really are easy to make and are far superior to the ones in jars or cans. And if you need one more reason, the sagebrush-y, best-cookout-you-ever-had smell will draw everyone to the kitchen, clamoring for the results.

The directions here are for roasting sweet red, orange and yellow bell peppers and mild chiles like Anaheims and pasillas. Hot peppers require a more cautious approach, which I’ll address in a future post. Though it’s best to start with fresh, unblemished peppers I have been known to “salvage” some rather withered-looking citizens. You’re roasting the skin off, after all. But do toss out peppers that are moldy or mushy. They are beyond saving.

The object is to blister and blacken the skin of the pepper, and there are three ways to accomplish this: gas burner, gas or electric broiler, and gas or charcoal grill. Essential for this task are a set of tongs. I use them to turn the pepper frequently as it roasts. To roast over a gas flame, balance the pepper on the burner grate over medium heat, turning it as it chars. The burner flame will be touching the pepper, as you can see.

Keep rotating the pepper as it blackens

To roast under the broiler, move the oven rack up close to the broiler element. I use a cookie sheet or a piece of foil under the pepper since it will sometimes drip liquid onto the bottom of the oven and I hate to clean that up!

Set the oven rack close to the broiler without jamming the pepper up against it

These peppers are on my little gas grill, which I use like an outdoor oven. When I light my charcoal grill I try to remember to roast a couple of peppers. A good time for that is after the coals are flaming but before they are quite ashy enough to cook over.

Keep rotating the peppers with tongs so that they blacken evenly

There will be the occasional little flare-up as the pepper roasts, but nothing dramatic. Stick around, though, to monitor it unless it’s out on the grill. Keep turning the pepper to char it evenly and all over.

Sometimes the pepper needs to assume a strange angle to blister all over

Nicely roasted under the broiler

Almost there...

This is completely charred, ready to remove from the flame

Once the pepper is completely blackened, remove it from the heat and put it into a paper bag. I use lunch bags, which I happen to have on hand, but you can use any brown paper bag. Close the bag and let the pepper rest for 10 minutes or more.

Shhh, the peppers are resting in their bags

Tear open the bag and lay it flat.

The bag just makes the whole job much easier to clean up

Starting at the stem end and using the back side of a knife, scrape down the length of the pepper to remove the charred skin. Move the black bits away from the pepper so you don’t have to keep scraping them off.

There will be big and small charred bits

Don't worry about getting off every last blackened flake

Move the pepper to a cutting board and throw away the scrapings and brown paper.

These are nearly ready to use

If you are making a dish requiring whole peeled peppers or chiles, such as chile rellenos, make a long slit the length of the pepper to remove the seeds and ribs but leave the stem attached. Here I’m making sliced peppers, so first cut around the top of the pepper and remove the stem.

Cut out the pale rib of the pepper

Next scrape out the seeds and trim off the ribs.

In the pasilla the ribs are stringy

Slice the peppers into strips lengthwise.

Don't worry about leaving a seed or two on the pepper

The roasted peppers have a natural oiliness

To serve with bread or on pasta or pizza, I like to marinate the peppers. Add a few sprinkles of red or balsamic vinegar, a couple of drops of olive oil, chopped fresh herb like rosemary or marjoram, salt and freshly ground pepper. Roasted peppers will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.

What's colorful here is also tasty

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.