Doug’s favorite garlic recipes

Here they are, my favorite over the top garlic recipes I wrote about in my homage to garlic guru Chester Aaron here.

This is a starter recipe for people just venturing into the wonderful world of garlic. Nothing to be afraid of here.

Creamy Tomato Basil Garlic Soup

2 heads roasted garlic, mashed
5 cloves garlic, minced
5 medium-sized tomatoes, blanched, peeled and diced
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup basil chiffonade (cut into long, thin strips)
Sea salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Creamy Tomato Garlic Basil Soup Serves 4
Directions
Roast the garlic. If you have a garlic roaster, use that to bake the heads of garlic. If you don’t have a roaster, you
can put the garlic into a baking pan or even aluminum foil and prepare it like this: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Put garlic heads in baking pan or roaster and drizzle with good olive oil. Cook for 30 to 45 minutes until brown.
Remove garlic and let cool. Now peel the garlic and set the soft garlic aside to add to the soup later.
Core the tomatoes and blanche them by dipping them into a pan of boiling water for 15 seconds and letting them
cool. The skins will slip off easily now.
Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds by hand. I dice them at this point. If you want a finer texture, cut
them into quarters and cook for 5 minutes in a saucepan with some olive oil. Then put them into a food processor.
In a medium-sized saucepan heat up some olive oil and cook the minced garlic for a minute or so. Add the
tomatoes, some salt and cook it all down for 10 minutes or so, until the consistency is right. If you want it thinner,
add a little chicken stock; thicker, just keep it cooking.
Add the roasted garlic and heavy cream, season to taste with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and add the
basil. It will wilt in the soup but retain its wonderful flavor.

Ultimate Garlic Lovers Soup

Doug’s Ultimate Garlic Lovers Soup

40 (or more) large cloves fresh garlic, peeled and chopped
1 quart chicken broth
2 cups water
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper (to taste)
2 bay leaves
1 fresh medium hot pepper
1 cup heavy cream

In saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté, keep the garlic moving to avoid burning. Cook about five minutes until garlic starts to soften.

Add chicken broth, water, salt, pepper, bay leaves and pepper. Simmer 30 minutes to let the flavors blend.
Remove bay leaves.
Pour into blender and puree. Return to saucepan. Stir in cream and heat through.

Ultimate Garlic Tomato Basil Soup

100 cloves of garlic pealed (can be bought this way)

Three large cans (#10) of crushed or diced tomatoes

Five bunches of fresh basil finely chopped or 1 cup of dried basil

1/2 cup of mixed dried Italian spices

1/2 cup of good extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt to taste

Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a food processor and add the garlic. Pulse until finely chopped. Add a few pinches of salt.

Add remaining olive oil to large soup pan and bring to simmer. Add garlic, stirring continuously for five minutes. If it’s not kept moving it will burn.

Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to medium heat. With an inversion blender get the mixture to the texture you prefer.

Add salt to taste.

Serves 200 and repels vampires too.

Garlic Scape Pesto

*20 fresh garlic scapes

*2 cups Campo de Montalban or Idiazabal or aged Manchego, grated

*1 1/2 cups hazelnuts

*2 cups safflower oil

*1/2 cup water or good white wine, optional

*Salt and pepper to taste

*1 pound pasta (I prefer linguini)

 

*Drizzle of olive oil to finish

Instructions

Add scapes, cheese and nuts to a food processor and begin to process while adding the safflower oil and wine a little at a time until you have reached desired thickness. Pesto can be served in a variety of consistencies, from very thick to rather thin, depending on preference.

Blend until paste-like, thinning if needed with water or wine then season to taste with salt and pepper and mix well.

Bring water to boil in a large pot, add pasta and cook until al dente.

Add pesto to the pasta and finish with a drizzle of good extra-virgin olive oil.

More from Everybody Gardens

Growing garlic is fun and easy.