Some call it the ‘Stinking Rose’. Others wax lyrical over it. Supposedly, an aphrodisiac, the Jews were commanded to eat it on the Sabbath Eve to arouse conjugal behaviour. In certain parts of Asia, however, its consumption was sacrilegious. It was even used in ancient times to ward off vampires. Truly, there is no other vegetable as controversial as the humble garlic. Whether you are repulsed by its smell or cannot live without it, garlic is arguably the most widely used ingredient in cuisines around the world. Can you imagine escargots without garlic butter? Or a Chinese stir-fry minus the mandatory dose of minced garlic? And would tahini retain its name without garlic?
I grew up with fond memories of grandma and her little container of crushed garlic that was ever present in the refrigerator, to be pinched and added into most of her cooking. “More please”, I would whine to her whenever I was in the kitchen, and perhaps to humour her granddaughter’s garlic obsession, she always obliged. Until today, I find myself using garlic whenever the opportunity arises and it is an ingredient that is never missing from my pantry. In fact, I once overheard a stranger saying, “Who needs MSG when we have garlic?” I could not agree more.
As such, the featured recipes for this meal story revolve around garlic (with the exception of dessert, of course!). The entrée is a no-frills dish of grilled Portobello mushrooms with herb and garlic. Portobello is a flavourful mushroom on its own, thus as simple as this recipe sounds, it really needs very little seasoning to bring out the taste.
Prawn Pasta Pangrattato is a recipe borrowed from my favourite celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, but modified to include prawns, to appease the carnivores in my family. Pangrattato is basically breadcrumbs fried in flavoured oil, and in this case, the olive oil is infused with the aroma of garlic when the two are fried together. In the olden days in Italy, pangratatto was used as a substitute for Parmesan, as the peasants could not afford cheese. But Parmesan is costly even to today, therefore this is a useful trick to keep up your sleeve, especially when paired with the right pasta and if you’re catering to a large crowd. The beauty of this recipe is that the garlic can be re-used as an ingredient in the salad, so there is zero wastage.
An alternative to the usual chilled crisp salads, the Warm Rocket Salad in this meal features caramelised onion as its star. Although I used butter to caramelise the onions, you can also substitute it with olive oil. It is merely my excuse to indulge! Plus the natural sugars in onions act as a lovely sweetener. The mild nutty taste of rocket goes wonderfully well with the onions and fried garlic, but be sure to rescue the garlic cloves before they blacken, while you are frying the pangrattato!
Finally, the meal is rounded off with another of my weaknesses – chocolate! Although I chose to use hazelnuts and marshmallows, what goes into the Rocky Road Slices is entirely up to you. As long as you stick to the right measurements for the chocolate mixture, let your imagination run wild with the rest of the ingredients. Mix and match your favourite sweets together, and experiment freely with items like raisins, walnuts, rice crisps and anything else that comes to mind. The possibilities are endless.
As this is my maiden entry for The Weekend Chef, I would like to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to be featured and I hope you will enjoy these recipes!