What to make with fresh garlic?

[Henrietta Stackpole]

I just bought some fresh garlic at the farmer's market. It smells divine!

What would you suggest I make with it? Do I just use the bulbs or are the green parts good too?

[alkapal]

chimichurri, chimichurri, chimichurri -- esp. on a garlic-rubbed medium rare new york strip steak. wow!

[dmd_kc]

If she has green garlic, it's not nearly strong enough for a real chimichurri, which should be as hot from the raw garlic as from the chile.

Not that I'd ever wave anyone off chimichurri. But it's just not **the** thing with anything but raw mature garlic. Or at least that's what my best friend, who's from Buenos Aires, certainly insists. It's one food you just don't mess around with.

[jwg]

I bought some too. Here is what we have made.1) Fresh fettuccine with saute of asparagus, green garlic, fava beans, fresh shitake mushrooms and grape tomatoes. 2) Green garlic and zucchini sauteed in EVOO. 3) Golng to put some in the fried rice for breakfast this a.m.

jwg

[Henrietta Stackpole]

You made the fettuccine too! Impressed.

[MGZ]

Of late, everything simple seems best to me. Maybe, it's the fact that better quality, seasonal ingredients are more readily available. Maybe, I'm just getting old. . . .

Regardless, grilled or sauteed green garlic (or for that matter, scallions, leeks, ramps, Vidalias . . .) served on slices of good crusty bread that has been lightly toasted (or grilled) and drizzled with the best quality olive oil you have (perhaps a peppery Arbequina or the delightfully fruity Frantoia?).

[Henrietta Stackpole]

Simple works for me, but only when I have the freshest ingredients. My husband had been baking a lot, so I'll try this out on his fresh baked bread.

[WhatThePho]

Strongly flavored greens like arugula stand up well to the flavor of green garlic. We brown a strip of bacon, crumble, stir fry chopped green garlic (green part too) for about a minute, add a BIG handful of greens per person and season w/ s&p, balsamic and a drizzle of good olive oil just as the greens wilt. SO GOOD.

[Henrietta Stackpole]

YES!

[critter101]

You can try a green garlic omelette -just Google it - there are many recipes.

[porker]

I never tried, but a portuguese restaurant owner once described a garlic soup. It sounded great. You could probably do a search to find an interesting recipe.

[Henrietta Stackpole]

Thanks porker, I'm googling it now.

[ipsedixit]

Are you talking about "green garlic"? Because if its just regular garlic, then if it has "green parts" then it's already started to sprout and is not "fresh" and will taste quite bitter.

If it is green garlic you are talking about (it should resemble scallions), then you can use the entire thing, including the green stems. I would use them in pasta sauces, in marinades or as in a vinaigrette dressing. The flavor of green garlic is quite mild (in comparison to regular garlic) so it's quite hard to be heavy handed with it. Think of them as a substitute to leeks, just about anything you do with leeks you can probably do with young fresh green garlic.

Enjoy and hope this helps.

[Henrietta Stackpole]

Yes, it must be green garlic I bought--it has the green parts that look like a leek. Thanks for the suggestions..............yum.

[Pata_Negra]

i use both parts as a vegetable in stir-fries. otherwise i rather like the bulbs in a roast, or garlic soup. squeeze out the flesh and spread it on (toasted) bread, too.

[pasuga]

Caesar salad. The old Joy of Cooking has a great recipe that calls for marinating garlic cloves in a couple cups of olive oil for several hours and then using the oil to saute the croutons and make the dressing. It's a lovely light lemony dressing and with just the right amount of garlic.

[Henrietta Stackpole]

OMG yum!

[pasuga]

I don't know how to go about PMing here, but if you can figure out a way to do it I can send you the recipe.

[Henrietta Stackpole]

Thanks--sadly I don't know how to PM either.......