Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

JadeMarie sent the recipe for this delicious chicken.
1 large chicken, cut into serving pieces
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup vinegar
1/4 cup Sprite or 7-Up soda
2 to 3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon pepper (regular black or cayenne)

Place chicken in crockpot. Mix all remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Serve over rice or noodles. You can thicken the juices after cooking with a little cornstarch. http://www.e-cookbooks.net/recipes1/09232.htm

I bet some rice or ramen noodles would be good on the side, along with some stir-fried vegetables.

The website that I found is Garlic Valley Farms Garlic Juices: http://www.garlicvalleyfarms.com/

They have recipes and a ton of interesting links on their website.

Garlic is just garlic, right?

The following photos were taken by Sam Breach (the website is amazing, full of delicious recipes and great pictures). He she wrote a great and interesting post about garlic that I am reproducing here. The original post can be found here (link)

Garlic is Just Garlic, Right?

Wrong!


Have you ever stopped to think about the garlic you buy? Like tomatoes, like peaches and like potatoes, there are many different varieties of this pungent vegetable too.



Some are mild and some are stronger. Some bulbs have two rings of small cloves, whilst others just have one ring of larger, fatter cloves. Here, from left to right, we have:
1) The Lorz italian, a pre 1900 heirloom.
2) An Inchelium red garlic from an Indian Reservation in East Washington.
3) The "Red Toch" from Tochliavri in Georgia.

I bought these three garlics from the Small Potatoes/Juicy Garlic stand at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market last Saturday. I was at the market early, before it was too crowded and was able to have a little chat with the farmer, Wallace Condon, about his garlics. He explained to me that he supports Seed Savers, a non-profit organisation who save and share heirloom seed. Seed Savers have several different varieties of garlic available. Condon explained to me that most commercial garlics are what are called "softnecks" but that "stiffnecks" are more interesting with a better flavour. Unfortunately the stiffneck yield is low which is why they are less common. All of the garlics Condon has for sale are the softneck type.

Since I had three stale ears of pain epi from Acme left over from the weekend, I decided that Fred and I should conduct a garlic bread tasting test with the three different varieties of bulb. Here are the results:

Lorz:
Smell: Mild
Garlic Bread: Hot patches on the tongue, moderate level of pungency.
Raw: Very strong, very hot. A long, long hotness and after-taste.

Inchelium:
Smell: Very mild and green.
Garlic Bread: Mild taste but with aftertaste. Slight fishiness in the flavour.
Raw: Hints of green, hot but short burn and long-lasting pungency.

Red Toch:
Smell: Extremely mild, barely detectable garlic smell.
Garlic Bread: Almost transparent as far as garlic goes, no bite, slightly sweet.
Raw: Slightly hot when tasted raw with a longer-lasting burn.

It has been an interesting excercise to compare and contrast these garlics and have the opportunity to judge which dish would benefit from which garlic. Often we don't have a choice or this kind of information at our fingertips when making our garlic purchases. Condon, of Small Potatoes, told me that he probably had only about two weeks worth of garlic left for sale at the market. So... you'll have to get in there quick if you want to taste the differences for yourself.

Toasted Garlic and Five Onion Soup

Toasted Garlic and Five Onion Soup
Originally uploaded by Shasta MacNasty.

This recipe and picture were taken from Shasta MacNasty's Flickr page. Here is a link to her website, she has lots of garlic stuff there too. Delicious!

1 slice bacon, diced small
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 leek, sliced
4 scallions, sliced
1 shallot, sliced
1/2 white onion, sliced
1/2 vidaliia onion, sliced
1 head garlic, sliced
8 sprigs thyme, minced
1 bay leaf
3/4 cup white wine
3 cups chicken stock
1 small backing potato, peeled, and diced small
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and black pepper

1. Place a 3 quart chefs pan over medium heat and add diced bacon. Cook until crisp and then remove bacon bits.

2. Add the olive oil, leeks, scallions, shallots, white and vidalia onions, and garlic.

3. Allow the onions and garlic to caramelize, about 15 minute. Stir in the thyme and bay leaf.

4. Deglaze the pan with white wine. Be sure to scrape the fond off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.

5. Pour in the chicken stock and bring the soup to a boil. Add the diced potatoes.

6. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes and onions are tender.

7. Puree the soup with a hand held emersion blender.

8. Stir in the cream and adjust the seasoning with salt and black pepper.

9. Garnish with bacon bits and serve hot.


Serves 4

Roasted garlic and tomato pizza

I looooove grape tomatoes. I just like them because they are tiny, and you can eat them in a mouthful or chop them and they are so cute.
I made up this roasted garlic and tomato pizza using Pillsbury's pre-made pizza dough (so convenient!).
Ingredients:
1 whole head garlic
2 spoonfuls olive oil
salt
1 package Pillsbury pizza dough
1 pint grape tomatoes sliced tiny
Half a package Kraft pizza cheese combination (or as much cheese as you want)
Fresh basil leaves

Instructions:
Roast the head of garlic by slicing off the top and sprinkling it with olive oil and some salt wrapped in foil, put it in the oven for about 50 minutes at 400 degrees F.
Roll out pizza dough in a baking sheet according to instructions, squeeze the roasted garlic (be careful that it cools a little bit, you don't want to burn your hands), brush with some olive oil and sprinkle the tomatoes, basil leaves and cheese. Bake in the oven at 425 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Delicious and garlicky!

Garlic Meatloaf

I was in the mood for good old-fashioned meatloaf and I wanted it really garlicky.
I am re-posting this recipe from June 2005.

3lbs. ground beef
2 1/2 lg. cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 lg. red onion, chopped
1 1/2 c. bread crumbs (Torn hamb. or hot dog bunns work better than reg. bread)
2 eggs
1/4 c. colby cheese
4oz. crushed tomatoes
1pkg. store brand meatloaf mix

Heat oven to 400 deg.
Mix all ing. well with hands, and form into a loaf
Flatten into appropriatly sized baking dish (I use glass)
Cook 1 hr. without opening oven door
After 1 hr. lightly cover top with katsup
An additional 30 min. it should be cooked through and have a nice brown crust
Cool 15 min. and serve