garlic

The question: can a mass-market potato chip capture the much-beloved earthy, caramelized sweetness of roasted garlic without verging on cloying, burnt, or worse? As I ripped into a bag of Lay's latest offering — Wavy Lay's Roasted Garlic and Sea Salt Chips — I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but as soon as a crisp chip crunched between my teeth I knew we had a winner on our hands. Just to be sure I wasn't biased — I'm an unabashed garlic fan, often doubling up on the fragrant allium in recipes — I set out a bowl to share with my office mates to see if they'd agree.  

Find out the results.

We bet you've never seen garlic like this before. Thanks to Fresh Tart's baked garlic recipe that comes with fresh herbs and zesty cheese, you'll have yourself a popular party appetizer that's guaranteed to be a hit.

I'll confess: I meant to get this recipe to you before New Year's Eve. But in the crush of the holidays, and illness, it did not happen and . . . well, Happy New Year? The good news is that New Year's Eve is not the only Winter night to invite friends over for dinner, and this easy appetizer is meant to share with friends.

This is a pretty old school recipe at this point, given roasted garlic's heyday (perhaps even Kardashian-level overexposure?) around the turn of this century. I think it's fair to say that we all know that garlic becomes gorgeously sweet and spreadable when roasted; but add fresh herbs, tangy cheese, and a splash of broth and you create a rich swiping sauce that elevates it to a party food that stands the test of time.

Find out the origins of the recipe — and more — when you keep reading.

When it comes to garlic, there seems to be a love-hate relationship with this potent yet flavorful veggie. Although its powerful taste can leave you needing a mint, garlic is a super food, loaded with several health benefits, like warding off colds for instance. To maximize garlic's healthy benefits, give it a good crush! Crushing garlic will conserve its healthy compounds — the same compounds that break up blood clots. Like any vegetable, you get the most bang for your buck when it's raw, but past studies show that crushed garlic cooked between three to six minutes, maintains the same benefits of its raw form. So whip up a healthy stir-fry tonight, just go easy on the sautéing to savor every last bit of garlicky goodness!

Your loved ones might beg you to cut back, but Winter is the time to embrace your garlic breath. The reason? Full of antioxidants and a natural anti-inflammatory, garlic has been linked to warding off colds. To make an even more compelling case, garlic contains allicin, the active ingredient that fights infection and bacteria. In one study, British researchers gave 146 people either a placebo or a garlic extract for 12 weeks; the garlic takers were two-thirds less likely to catch a cold.

But there's no reason to force yourself to chew on raw garlic cloves or brew stinky tea. There are plenty of delicious ways to bring this bacteria-fighting bulb to the table that only enhance your recipe's flavor. This lightened-up, low-cal version of fettuccine alfredo uses a whopping eight cloves of garlic in the recipe! If that's too much for your taste buds, simply toss your salad in a healthy homemade grapeseed oil dressing that includes garlic and also adds some detox power with a little lemon juice.

I'm an unabashed lover of all meaty treats. Succulent duck confit, planks of unctuous bone marrow, quivering pork belly: I greedily devour them all. That said, I think of these deeply savory foods as the punctuation to my everyday diet rather than the staples. An average day finds me spooning up oatmeal, munching on nuts, and supping on salads of zesty tomatoes and burrata cheese.

Some might describe my predilection to limit my meat consumption as flexitarianism; I prefer to think of it as practical, because, as tempting as it is, a diet based on meat is far from environmentally sound (or nutritionally balanced for that matter). It came as no surprise that I was drawn to Arthur Potts Dawson's new cookbook, Eat Your Vegetables, a beautifully photographed tome bolstering the movement to eat less meat.

While many of the recipes contained within its pages are vegetarian-friendly, others are liberally garnished with beef, bacon, or salty anchovies. Dawson may be an outspoken ambassador for the oft-forgotten fruits of the garden, but is quick to mention that he too enjoys the occasional steak. Rather than focus on the asceticism of a vegetable-based diet, his cookbook celebrates the vast variety of foods spouting forth from the garden, and many dishes would appeal to all but the most staunch carnivore.

Keep reading for one of my favorite recipes from Eat Your Vegetables.

At John Besh's demo in Aspen, the chef had to chop a lot of garlic for the nouveau New Orleans cuisine he was making. However, he had a technique for getting it minced quickly: smash it. I'm not talking about to remove the skin; I'm talking about after the skin has been peeled off. Place the garlic clove on a cutting board. Turn a large chef's knife on its side so it's perpendicular with the board. Slam the knife with the palm of your hand on top of the garlic clove. If you hit it hard enough, it turns into a pulverized paste. Run the knife through it once and you've got minced garlic in seconds.

What's your method for chopping garlic?

In my opinion, the only downside to consuming lots of garlic is having stinky breath. This mighty food adds an abundance of flavor to dishes and can help a variety of ailments putting it at the top of my superfood list.

Just some of garlic's healing properties include warding off colds, reducing inflammation, and boosting immunity. What's not to love? Here are a few garlic tips and tricks:

• How to eat garlic: When you consume garlic, make sure it's crushed to conserve its healthy anti-clotting compounds. You can press it with a garlic press and be sure to only cook it for 3 - 6 minutes. To make chopping a bit easier, find a garlic gadget that will cut and peel cloves into perfectly diced pieces so you can quickly add your garlic to dishes or sprinkle it on food.

Keep reading for more garlic goodness.

The January issue of Martha Stewart Living has an amazing article on roast chicken. Since roast chicken is one of the most comforting meals, I've been experimenting with the enticing recipes. There's five fabulous variations, but my favorite is the one seen here for garlic-butter rubbed chicken with roasted oranges and red onions.

The technique and ingredients are simple, but the resulting chicken is juicy, succulent, and intensely delicious. Now is the perfect time to make this chicken because oranges are in season, and they're the major flavoring agent. The zest seeps into the chicken and permeates it with orange essence. I served it with white beans, but it would pair nicely with potatoes or rice. Get the recipe, after the break.