What should I make for dinner, garlic edition
April 26, 2022 7:04 PM   Subscribe

I'm looking for your favorite recipes that will help me enjoy the two heads of garlic I need to finish. The easiest, laziest recipes you have.

I don't enjoy cooking but I do have to eat, and on occasion I make a mistake such as buying too much garlic for one meal. I love garlic but I've used my two tried and true recipes incorporating it, and I'd love to try some more!

I am interested in vegetarian, beef, and chicken recipes. Side dishes are fine as well, but no fish, celery, or cilantro. I have an oven, stove top, microwave. I love Asian flavors but am not limited to those. I probably won't make anything too fussy -- if it requires a lot of ingredients or monitoring it is fussy. I am not afraid of carbs and love rice and bread.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
posted by possibilityleft to Food & Drink (22 answers total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
I love grating it very finely into yogurt. Add some salt and pepper and you have something delicious to dip or garnish on chicken, potatoes, all kinds of things.
posted by cakelite at 7:11 PM on April 26, 2022 [1 favorite]


Easiest, laziest? Roast them whole. It transforms the garlic into a wonderfully mild, melty-spreadable thing; goes great on toast, pizza, other veg you're roasting, etc.

(Quick recipe: Slice off the top, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and roast in 400F-ish oven for maybe half an hour or until the cloves are super-tender.)
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 7:24 PM on April 26, 2022 [27 favorites]


Remember that feta pasta recipe that went viral a while back? We make it all the time and I always add a whole head of garlic to it, and you could easily add two. It's a very unfussy recipe, and really gives good "bang for the buck" results.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:47 PM on April 26, 2022 [4 favorites]


Building on cakelite's recommendations, try Ina Garten's tzatziki (the only recipe I make where I never have to adjust anything) and this great asparagus dish with garlicky yogurt. I serve the tzatziki with these turkey meatballs--I always double the garlic and never regret it.
posted by dapati at 7:49 PM on April 26, 2022


We just peel individual cloves and sauté them with your choice of oil (a lot of it) for about ten or fifteen minutes on medium heat until they get cooked through and a little blistered on the outside, then eat them whole. You can add thin pieces of flank steak at the end if you’re aiming for something more meal-like.
posted by stellaluna at 8:14 PM on April 26, 2022 [2 favorites]


Do what sockin’ said, then peel, mash it up with lemon juice, pepper, salt, and parsley, and spread it on toast or crackers!
posted by centrifugal at 8:20 PM on April 26, 2022 [3 favorites]


Quick-pickled garlic is also delicious and mild. Just pack the cloves in a clean jar, add some hot brine (3:1 water to vinegar, lots of salt and dill) and seal it up... open in a week or two and enjoy!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 8:29 PM on April 26, 2022


If you have a covered roasting pan, you can get yourself a bone-in lamb shoulder.

Make deep controlled slabs into the meatier parts and stuff whole peeled garlic cloves down them. Season the outside with salt and pepper.

The other bulb you can slice in half, horizontally, (leave the skin on, wash) and put them flat on the bottom of the roasting pan. Throw some chopped (or quartered or whole small) onions in there. Plop your shoulder on top.

Add a cup of liquid of your choice. A cheap red wine, chicken broth. Just water is fine. I've used 1/2 coffee 1/2 broth to interesting effect.

Preheat to 465'F, turn down to 350, cover tightly, 3 hours. Uncover, turn heat up to 425 20 - 30 minutes. The timing is really forgiving. It should be nicely browned on top and near fork-tender.

Sometimes 2 hours-in I'll throw in chunks of potatoes or parsnips or giant orange carrot and re-cover.
posted by porpoise at 8:37 PM on April 26, 2022 [3 favorites]


Chicken with 40 cloves is a common dish. There are many versions and usually pretty forgiving of substitutions.
posted by mmascolino at 8:41 PM on April 26, 2022 [3 favorites]


If using a food processor isn't too fancy, make toum.
posted by Candleman at 9:00 PM on April 26, 2022 [2 favorites]


These garlic noodles from the estimable Kenji Lopez-Alt use 20 cloves for one pound of pasta, and the recipe looks incredibly easy and quick. (It's more or less "cacio e aglio" instead of "cacio e pepe".)
posted by sesquipedalia at 9:17 PM on April 26, 2022 [2 favorites]


Jamie Oliver's hommus recipe is a good start, but I'd double the tahini and quadruple the garlic.
posted by flabdablet at 9:20 PM on April 26, 2022


garlic confit, eat with bread (or with a spoon).
posted by jeweled accumulation at 9:21 PM on April 26, 2022


place on foil square, cut top off head, drizzle with oil, seal up foil. roast. squeeze roasted cloves onto good brown bread that you bought. omg so good. is so good you will eat enough to make a meal of it.

I've made garlic soup that required 2+ heads, and it's good, but it isn't as lazy or as fabulous as straight up roasted on brown bread. cant recall which recipe I used, there are many variations.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:50 PM on April 26, 2022 [1 favorite]


You could scale down this "40 cloves" garlic chicken recipe.
posted by robcorr at 9:50 PM on April 26, 2022 [1 favorite]


Seconding sesquipedalia’s suggestion - if you’re into cool food history it is worth reading up on the origin of the dish (NYT link) he is approximating in that recipe which comes from a SF institution. If its any measure of how good the noodles are, i chose them (and the accompanying crab) as one of my final two dinners before moving away.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:10 AM on April 27, 2022 [2 favorites]


Good soup.
posted by Grither at 3:52 AM on April 27, 2022


I made a loaf of bread weekend before last that was incredible, and so easy. I roasted 4 whole heads of garlic in my air fryer so they were soft & smashable, then chucked them into my bread machine with an otherwise extremely boring bread recipe. I think it was probably 1/6-1/5 garlic by volume.

It was SO GOOD toasted with just a little butter and my house smelled like delicious roasting garlic for hours.

Looking at your question again my concern is you don't have enough garlic.
posted by phunniemee at 5:15 AM on April 27, 2022 [5 favorites]


Marinara.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:20 AM on April 27, 2022


Stir fry with lots of garlic, oil, and green veggies (Chinese broccoli, choy sum, western broccoli, asparagus, onion-like-vegetables) is always good and really fast. Fry the garlic for a few minutes until it stars to brown before adding the rest. Add some sesame oil, seeds, or furikake at the end if you want to make it fancy.
posted by eotvos at 8:20 AM on April 27, 2022


Option 1: A great loaf of bread, as per phunniemee. I use this recipe, and it's amazing. The rosemary brings it to another level. (I use fresh though rosemary though.)

Option 2: separate all the cloves from the head, and remove the paper skins. Freeze the cloves whole, and remove from the freezer as needed. I did this recently, as we had just too much garlic in the house, and the cloves are easy to mince even straight from the freezer.
posted by hydra77 at 9:44 AM on April 27, 2022 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks to everyone for their recommendations! I ended up making the NY Times noodles and it was fine but kind of greasy, but then I had another head of garlic that I roasted in my air fryer and that was especially delicious, so all suggestions were good! I'll probably use more of them in the future!
posted by possibilityleft at 5:02 PM on June 1, 2022


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