"Mojo de ajo" (garlic) Prawns/Crayfish

Langostinos/camarones al mojo de ajo.

This a super easy Spanish/Mexican recipe. It was eating this, when I was about 8 years old, that I became a garlic fan.


Here's part of my brother eating garlic prawns.

Go to the market and choose big nice prawns or crayfish.
Get two heads of garlic.
A whole bunch of parsley.
Olive oil.
Salt to taste.
This recipe turns out better if made in an earthenware clay pot.

Clean (but don't peel) prawns or crayfish, get them ready to cook.
Cut garlic into slivers.
Chop parsley.

Heat olive oil in pot and fry garlic until golden brown (you have to be really careful not to let the garlic burn or the whole taste of the dish will change). They will turn out to look like mini potato chips, that's what we want.
Add parsley and then fry prawns or crayfish until cooked. Add salt to taste.

It's THAT easy, and super delicious. When I was little I didn't quite eat the prawns, I mainly just sat there and ate the garlic. When eating the prawns, you can also squeeze some lime juice on them (like my brother is doing in the picture).
ENJOY!

Warm garlic dipping sauce with olives

Great for dipping veggies (now that I'm trying to eat healthy and increase my daily vegetable intake).

Ingredients:
2 cups olives, drained
2/3 cup white wine
2 cloves of garlic, slivered
3 tablespoons parsley, minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

I. In a baking dish arrange olives, pour white wine and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

II. In the food processor, combine all remaining ingredients to form a paste.

III. Take olives out of the oven and while still hot, add them to the garlic paste. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.

IV. Marinate olives in garlic dip overnight.

V. Serve at room temperature with vegetables (carrot, celery, broccoli, etc.) as a dip and ENJOY!

Gazpacho

We are in the dead of winter, but why not fantasize about summer? Gazpacho is a cold summer soup from the south of Spain. It has a lot of garlic, RAW garlic!

Ingredients:
1 large seedless cucumber
1 green pepper
2 tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic (you can make it 2 or 1 if you think it's too garlicky, but that's the whole idea of it)
1/4 white onion
1 panini bread
1/2 cup really really concentrated knorr chicken stock (or vegetable)
Olive oil
Vinegar
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in the blender (may have to do it half and half if they don't fit in the blender, they surely do not fit in mine).
Mix until it looks like a smooth cream. May need to add a bit more of water, or better still, ice.
Serve chilled. ENJOY!

Garlic Breath

(Taken from somewhere on the Internet)

Garlic heightens the flavour of food, but it's one big drawback is that it's pungent odour lingers on your breath. Raw garlic has a stronger odour than cooked garlic which is often quite mild-tasting (but I prefer raw garlic so much, for example in gazpacho, mmmh, reminds me of a good old summer in Spain).
Chewing fresh parsley or fennel seeds or peppermints is said to neutralise the odour, but none of these really work. Individuals vary greatly in their retention of the garlic smell on their breath and perspiration.
The best way to avoid bad breath is to make sure everyone else eats garlic so no one will notice!

Garlic Cauliflower

So I received the Canada Guide to eating healthy, from Health Canada. I am trying to increase my consumption of vegetables (you know, not very high in calories and fat, high in vitamins). Here's a recipe that is delicious.

Ingredients:

1 small cauliflower
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic -- minced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Pepper to taste

Instructions:
In a large kettle, bring 2 litres of water to a boil.
Break cauliflower into flowerets.
Cook in boiling water for about 2 minutes.
Drain.
Heat oil and brown garlic.
Add cauliflower and sesame seeds, stir-fry 1 minute.
Sprinkle pepper to taste.

Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes

Recipe sent by Gus

Ingredients
2 lbs potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks/pieces
4 large cloves of GARLIC...lol
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (me likey this)
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary (chopped)
2/3 Evaporated milk (Blah)
Salt and ground Pepper to taste!

How to do it!
Boil potatoes and garlic for 15 to 20 min or until tender in large covered saucepan. Then drain off the water. Combine the garlic andpotatoes by beating with a hand held mixer. Add cheese, butter, rosemary and beat until smooth. Gradually add in the milk untilfluffy. Then season with salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy! :)

Toasted Garlic

The recipe for toasted garlic, delicious!

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
Peel garlic:
Remove paper from 2 whole heads of garlic as you can without breaking apart cloves.
Place in dish:
Place garlic heads in 1/4 cup water in a small baking dish.
Add olive oil:
Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Cover dish:
Cover with aluminum foil or baking dish cover.
Bake:
Put into oven.
Baste:
Baste with olive oil and water mixture after 30 minutes.
Total time 1 hour:
Bake until garlic is soft and easily pierced with a knife.