[Sca-cooks] Garlic Challenge

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Since you asked, Stefan,

Here's my Moretum recipe that we made for the Greco-Roman Feast at 
the beginning of this September:

120 cloves Garlic (to equal 10 heads)
(for ease i bought them already peeled in a jar that needed to be 
kept refrigerated)
1 Tb. Salt
5 large handfuls Cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh Celery Leaf or Lovage
(i got something sold as "Chinese Celery" - mostly leaf, little 
stalk, tasted a lot like the fresh lovage i tasted)
1/4 cup plus 1 Tb White Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup plus 1 Tb. good quality Olive Oil
(don't use that pale yellow oil - it has no character - flavorful 
dark green oil is better)
2-1/2 lb. grated Pecorina Romano
(*real* Parmesan cheese is ok, but do not, i repeat, do NOT use Kraft 
brand or any other cheap stuff - it tastes like cardboard and has the 
texture of finely granulated cat litter)

1. Grind garlic with salt in food processor.
2. When pureed, add greens and olive oil and grind.
3. When pureed add remaining ingredients.
4. Taste and add more salt only if needed.
5. Form into 10 balls and chill overnight.

Serve at room temperature with bread.

Note: The woman who cooked this parboiled the garlic so it would be 
milder. I thought it was too mild, but there was none left at the end 
of the feast...


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And since you seem to like garlic, here's the Thumiyya recipe with 
which i won the Iron Chef Cook-off in the Spring of 2001:

Thumiyya
from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook - 13th century

Translation by Charles Perry
Take a plump hen and take out what is inside it, clean that and leave 
aside. Then take four uqiyas of peeled garlic and pound them until 
they are like brains, and mix with what comes out of the interior of 
the chicken. Fry it in enough oil to cover, until the smell of the 
garlic comes out. Mix this with the chicken in a clean pot with salt, 
pepper, cinnamon, lavender, ginger, cloves, saffron, peeled almonds, 
both pounded and whole, and a little murri naqi. Seal the pot with 
dough, place it in the oven and leave it until it is done. Then take 
it out and open the pot, pour its contents in a clean dish and an 
aromatic scent will come forth from it and perfume the area. This 
chicken was made for the Sayyid Abu al-Hasan and much appreciated.

Redaction by Anahita al-Qurtubiyya bint 'abd al-Karim al-Fassi

4 lb. chicken breasts and thighs
4 ounces of garlic, peeled
3 Tb. olive oil
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Tb. cinnamon
2 tsp. lavender
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
hearty pinch of real saffron
1/2 c. ground blanched almonds
3/4 c. peeled whole almonds
1-1/2 Tb. murri naqi

In honor of the noble gentles to whom i am serving this dish, and 
especially the Princess's delicate sensibilities, i used skinless, 
boneless chicken breasts and thighs and did not use any of the 
chicken's innards.

1. Puree peeled garlic.
2. Fry it in oil until the smell of the garlic comes out.
3. Put chicken in pot, spoon garlic and remaining ingredients and 
spoon over it.
4. Cover the pot well, place it on a medium-low fire, and cook until 
done, stirring occasionally, and adjusting the heat, as necessary.
5. When done, pour contents onto serving dish.

NOTE: This is the only recipe i've ever tested.

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Anahita