Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Gar-lickin' good

OK, so it may not be breath-freshening, but garlic can do some pretty important things. The herb lowers blood pressure and cholesterol and inhibits blood clotting. It's also a powerful germicide and may protect against some carcinogens.

Garlic is better for you in its natural state - raw or lightly cooked - rather than dried as powder or in capsules. Simply chewing the stuff isn't practical, though, so here is a recipe for garlic soup to eat on its own or as a base for other soups.

Ingredients:

  • 8 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 whole head of garlic
  • cloves peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
  • Pinch of dried sage
  • Salt to taste

Instructions:

  1. To the vegetable stock, add the olive oil, bay leaf, garlic, thyme and sage.
  2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt to taste.
  3. Strain and serve.
  4. Enjoy!

1 comment:

Red said...

A fantastic way to enjoy garlic is to cut the skinny end so that you expose a bunch of the bulbs, drizzle it with olive oil, bake it for a lil' while in tin foil, and then use it as a spread for bread. I'd imagine there's a recipe somewhere out there that gives cooking time and temp; sorry I don't have it in my head. It's been a while since I fixed it this way.