Category Archives: How To’s

Mar 14 2014

How to Make Ginger-Garlic Paste

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Ginger and garlic. I can’t believe it took me so long to discover the holy combination. Each one balances out the other. One is slightly sweet and floral and the other is sharp and savory. Together it’s heaven. It’s also insanely easy to make.

It’s the basis of many Indian dishes but it can be used in many other dishes.

Let’s get into it. You will need ginger, garlic, turmeric and oil. I usually go for equal amounts of ginger and garlic. But one time I added more ginger and it was really nice and floral. So do you, boo boo.  

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 Grate the ginger and garlic and then sprinkle enough turmeric to coat the ginger-garlic. 

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Then drizzle a little oil. Just enough to coat the mixture and create a paste consistency. The proportions I used are listed in the recipe card below, use them as a starting point. 

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Once you mix it up it should turn into a beautiful bright yellow, unless your turmeric is a bit on the orange side : 

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 That’s it! You have made ginger-garlic paste. Yay you! Spread it on meats before cooking, or spread it on veggies or on your body. Whatever. The paste goes really well with seafood: 

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 Or with Primo’s Ginger-Garlic Shrimp which turned out amazing! Seriously, best shrimp I’ve ever had. Even Primo the Chihuahua agrees with me and he hates shrimp! 

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Oh. Hello there Primo! He had his eye on these shrimp like nobody’s business.  

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Mar 13 2014

How to Make Roasted Garlic

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Roasting garlic makes the sharp taste that garlic is infamous for completely mellow out. The garlic caramelizes and becomes mild and sweet. This recipe is a basic roasted garlic recipe, but once you have the technique down I encourage you to try different flavor variations.

Maybe you could drizzle some honey to accentuate the sweetness, or perhaps drizzle some balsamic vinegar (the aged syrupy stuff would be amaze balls). Or you could season it with savory spices and maybe sprinkle some parmesan cheese on it when it comes out of the oven. I’m drooling.

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Preheat your oven to 400F.

Then grab a nice big head of garlic and chop of a little bit of the top of the garlic. Just enough to expose all of the cloves.

Place the head of garlic in an oven safe container. I used a little cast iron skillet but if you’re roasting more than one head (of garlic, of course) a muffin pan works well.

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 Drizzle, (that’s my fav culinary term.. drizzle me baby ..eww) some olive oil on the exposed cloves.

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Here is your chance to let your imagination run wild. I used plain ol’ S&P but try any flavor you think would work well. The garlic flavor is going to really mellow out so you can go in lots of different directions. Don’t be scared. 

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Cover and pop it in the oven for 45 minutes. 

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That’s how it looks when it’s done. However, I think it could go a bit longer if you want more caramelization. Next time I will keep it in the oven for an hour and see how it turns out.

Once the garlic has cooled down enough to handle, squeeze the uncut end of the head of garlic and the cloves should all spill out easily.

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Spread on toast, use in salad dressing or mashed potatoes. Or you can use them to flavor sautéed spinach like I did. 

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