Sunday, April 19, 2015

National Garlic Day

Calling all garlic lovers! Welcome to National Garlic Day 2015, hosted by Heather from girlichef. April 19th is a day for garlic lovers far and wide to come together and celebrate the wonder of "the stinking rose". Whether it's the ability to ward off vampires (and bugs), its numerous health benefits, or the way it lends flavor to a dish, there are so many reasons for singing the praises of garlic. 

National Garlic Day 2015

Yep, that's right.  There is actually a day set aside to honor this lovely, fragrant vegetable from the allium family.  Now, in this household, every day is garlic day.  We don't believe that there can ever be too much garlic.  We love it so I was happy to join this great group of food bloggers led by Heather of girlichef.  The only rule was to share a recipe that prominently features garlic.




When Frank and I go out to lunch, more often that not we head to the Lebanese Grill.  They have amazing, authentic food and we always start our meal with pita hot from the oven slathered with garlic paste.  We love that garlic paste and we usually eat it together so we don't realize how strong we smell until we run into someone else and they start sniffing around and wrinkling their noses at us.

Frank has been after me for a while now to make some garlic paste at home.  This challenge was the perfect opportunity to accommodate his wishes.  So I went on line and I found a recipe.  This recipe called for 3 heads of garlic, 1 t. salt, juice of 1 lemon and 4-5 c. of canola oil and used a food processor.....FAIL.

So I thought perhaps the food processor was too large and tried it again using the small bowl of the processor....FAIL.

Back to the computer...another recipe, this one called for placing all ingredient at one time into a jar and using an immersion blender....FAIL.

I was getting very frustrated....so I did what I always do when recipes are not working out for me.  I tossed them in the garbage and figured I would do it myself.  I used garlic, lemon, salt and oil as called for in every other recipe but I used the blender and adjusted the amount of ingredients.
Success!!!


This sauce is delicious smeared on pita, as a topping for grilled meats or as a spread for sandwiches.


Lebanese Garlic Sauce

Cloves from 1 head garlic, separated and peeled
2 large pinches kosher salt
Juice squeezed from 1/4 of a large lemon
1/2-3/4 c. canola oil

Place garlic cloves and salt into a blender.  Pulse and scrape repeatedly until garlic becomes pastelike. Squeeze the lemon juice into the blender and pulse until incorporated.  Turn the blender to the stir setting and keep it running as you drizzle the oil slowly into the garlic. Pulse as needed to incorporate all the oil before adding more.  Continue in this manner until the paste is the consisitency of mayonnaise.  Print Recipe

To help you get in the mood, check out these garlicky good recipes from this year's National Garlic Day bloggers:

25 comments:

  1. I love garlic and this recipe looks amazing. Thanks for sharing it for #NationalGarlicDay.

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  2. I feel like sangria is a MUST at a picnic...I love this!

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    1. wrong post Nichole but thanks...perhaps I will find your comment for this post on Sunday Supper.

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  3. Well, you know what? I always thought that what we were served at our favorite Lebanese restaurant WAS garlic mayonnaise! Who knew that there were no eggs involved. Well done for figuring it out, Wendy!

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  4. I'm glad you kept at it - because this sounds like pure garlicky goodness...I can think of so many things I want to shmear it on!

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  5. That paste would be so versatile! In fact, it would be perfect on my garlic bread today! Well done for figuring it out.

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  6. Third time's a charm, right? This looks wonderful!!

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  7. OMG I didn't know garlic could look this creamy with no dairy, a MUST try!!

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  8. It's amazing that it has no dairy - I can make it for everyone in this house which would be so great since we don't usually have that luxury!

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  9. I'm so glad you stuck with it!!! It looks luscious!

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  10. I'd spread this on everything!

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  11. I could see using this garlic sauce on any number of dishes...and maybe even to brush my teeth. LOL Just kidding about that one, of course...I think ;)
    Renee - Kudos Kitchen

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  12. I love sauces like this - I want to spread it on everything! YUM!

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  13. Epic success! I am so late to the game and totally missed Natl. Garlic Day. (Sigh.) But, so glad I finally got around to all my favorite blogs who participated. Pinning!!!!

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