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. 

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:

• Black Garlic Chocolate Cake from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic from My Catholic Kitchen
• Epic Garlic Bread from Shockingly Delicious
• Garlic and White Bean Hummus from Kelli's Kitchen
• Garlic Lovers Focaccia with Shallots and Sweet Corn from Kudos Kitchen by Renee
• Garlic-Parmesan Chicken Stuffed Shells for Two from The Spiffy Cookie
• Garlicky Chard Stuffed Flank Steak from girlichef
• Garlicky Lobster Crab Scampi from Food Lust People Love
• Garlicky Rib Eye Steak with Garlic Bruschetta from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• IPA Pickles from NY Foodgasm
• Lebanese Garlic Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Louisiana Garlic Bread from Wishes and Dishes
• Ricotta, Garlic and Mushroom Flatbread Pizza from Simply Healthy Family
• Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Hummus from From Gate to Plate
• Roasted Garlic Cauliflower from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Roasted Garlic Gruyère Pull-Apart Bread from Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen
• Spicy Garlic Noodles with Pork from Healthy Delicious