25th Annual Garlic Dinner - 2017

This past week was our Annual Garlic Dinner where we feature garlic in every form from the appetizers to a tasty tempting dessert and everything in between. Not only did we serve roasted garlic and minced garlic and mashed garlic there was also black garlic! Have you heard of it? Black garlic is new to us, but guest chef Linda Gauvry of Tastebuds introduced us all to black garlic. It is a fermented garlic where tangy garlic undertones mix with a molasses-like richness to create a unique flavor mesh billed as 'culinary gold'.

Once our guests placed their orders for hot pots of tea, we began serving the meal. A plate of individual appetizers included Roasted garlic stuffed dates drizzled with pecan honey butter,  Cucumber bites with whipped garlic feta dip, and Sun-dried tomato ricotta crostini. 

Following the appetizers, we served a beautiful plate of Pumpkin roasted garlic soup with an herbed pesto swirl topped with an edible nasturtium and accompanied with am oversize  buttery garlic Parmesan dinner roll.

The main entree consisted of Honey garlic chicken (a moist chicken breast topped with a honey garlic glaze) with chive and garlic infused hand mashed potatoes served alongside herb and garlic roasted rainbow carrots. The carrots added such a pretty complement of fall colors,

Dessert was a yummy Apple Spiced Cake topped with pecans and served with a Roasted Garlic and Honey Poached Black Garlic Sauce. Fresh figs harvested from the Rosemary House garden garnished the plate. A delicious ending to a very unique meal. 

Kudos to guest chef Linda Gauvry of TasteBuds Personal Chef Services for tonight's dinner presentation.

Legends of Sleepy Hollow Garlic Dinner

Our annual garlic dinner is always such a treat!  Starting with an assortment of tasty Appetizers, followed by a Garden Salad with Honey-Garlic Dressing, James Beard's 40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken, Rice Pilaf and Cheesy Garlic Broccoli and then finishing with the very popular Garlic Chocolate Chunk Pecan Pie, by the time dinner was done, everyone had consumed approximately three heads (not cloves, but heads) of garlic!

Following the meal, we welcomed the Princess of Lamballe, great friend and confident of Marie Antoinette. She explained the great connections between the US, France and England during the time period of 1789 -1793, which is the time period of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, NY who died from having his head blown off by a cannonball. The Headless Horseman was a Hessian employed by Britain and since his fate was decapitation like Princess Lamballe and Marie Antoinette and most French Aristocrats, Princess Lamballe had this connection to the headless horseman and did a dramatic reading of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the tale of Ichabod Crane.  

Our own Headless Horsewoman won most scary at her recent horse show!
Happy Halloween!

Garlic Frosted Carrot Cake

 

Carrot Cake:
2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 c. oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. carrots, peeled and grated
1 c. crushed pineapple, with juices
1 c. walnuts
2 Tbsp. minced fresh garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.  Set aside.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices together in a large bowl.  Add the oil, eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Fold in the carrots, pineapple, walnuts and fresh garlic.  Stir well.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake 45 min. - 1 hour.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Invert onto plate and cool completely.  Prepare frosting.

Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. margarine
1-1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. freshly grated lemon rind
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced
1 lb. confectioner's sugar

Blend frosting ingredients until creamy. Frost cake.  If desired, sprinkle additional walnuts on top of cake.

Garlic Dinner 2013

We recently hosted our 21st Annual Garlic Dinner in Sweet Remembrances.  The appetizer course included a Roasted Almond & Garlic Spread with Triangle Toasts and Crackers, Garlic Hummus with Carrots and Celery, Garlicky Pickles, and Shrimp Marinated in a Garlic Lemon Vinaigrette.







A Leafy Green Salad with Assorted Toppings and Garlic Sourdough Croutons was topped with a Rustic Garlic Dressing.















The main entrée featured Lemon Dijon and Garlic Chicken with Whole Roasted Garlic, Potatoes & Yummy Peppers, Roasted Asparagus with a Garlic Sauce, and the Ultimate Garlic Herb Bread.











And dessert included a Garlicky Carrot Cake and Chocolate Covered Garlic Cloves.



As is customary, by the end of the evening, each guest had consumed the equivalent of three entire heads of garlic!  We're not referring to individual cloves of garlic, but the complete garlic bulb! 

Chocolate Covered Garlic Cloves

Tonight is our Annual Garlic Dinner, the 21st annual Garlic extravaganza to be exact.  Although the tea room has been open for 23 years, our traditional Halloween celebration of the stinking rose apparently didn't start until we were two years into this adventure.  We have continued this tradition - putting garlic into every course of the meal, and tonight is no different.  As part of the menu, our guests will be enjoying Chocolate Covered Garlic Cloves.  We served something similar in 2008, and you can find the post and recipe here.  But, this year, we are trying a slightly different recipe which I found on the Internet. 

This very simple recipe is adapted from The Garlic Book by Susan Belsinger.  You can find the recipe here.  Fresh whole garlic cloves are simmered in a combination of 1/2 c. red wine, 1/4 c. sugar, and lemon peel for about 20 minutes.  Once tender, remove lemon peel and drain garlic.  Melt bittersweet chocolate (I used a combination of Ghirardelli's bittersweet and semisweet) as directed on the package.  Dip each clove into the chocolate, and place on a wax paper lined tray.  Chill until chocolate is firm.  Place garlic cloves in candy cups and serve to your guests.  These are best eaten 24 - 48 hours after preparing them  Enjoy! 

Happy Halloween!

19th Annual Garlic Dinner

Garlic! Garlic! and more Garlic!  We had our annual garlic dinner last week.  The appetizers set the scene, a plate full of garlic that included pickled garlic cloves, Rosemary Garlic Jelly over cream cheese served with garlicky crackers, Feta & Garlic Stuffed Sweet Peppers, and Swiss Apple Melt.  Oh yum!
The salad featured assorted leafy greens, cranberries, garlicky almond slivers, feta cheese, and a homemade Italian dressing.

For the entree, Cheesy Garlic Chicken with whole garlic cloves, oven roasted garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and to-die-for garlic Parmesan bread.  And dessert was Apple Cream Pie, yes, with thin matchstick pieces of garlic baked with the apples.  Alas, no photo of dessert, it was gobbled up too quickly!

Definitely a dinner for those who love garlic!  By the end of the meal, each guest consumed three heads (not merely cloves, but heads!) of garlic.

Witchy Woman

Our customers are so much fun! They are a large part of why we love what we do! These photos were taken at our recent annual Garlic Dinner which this year featured a special witchy woman guest, thus inspiring many to come dressed as a witch.

Our special guest was Eliza Blackheart of the Breckenvale Coven. She presented a lively program on the history of witchcraft, witches and witch hunts as well as the history of Halloween, Jack o'Lanterns, trick or treating and more.

Garlic Dinner - 18th Annual

Garlic! Garlic! Garlic!
This past Thursday we enjoyed our annual Garlic dinner where it is estimated that our guests each consumed three entire heads of garlic (yes, heads!).
The Menu:
Jalapeno Garlic Stuffed Olives
Garlic Spiced Mixed Nuts
Garlic Goat Cheese Spread & Baguette
Basil Pesto Crostini
Leafy Green Salad with Roquefort Cheese, Onions and Pickled Hot Pepper Rings and Creamy Garlic French Dressing

Baked Garlic & Herb Chicken
Garlicky Green Beans & Herbs
Oven Roasted Garlic, Potatoes, and Yummy Peppers,
Parmesan 'n Herb Garlic Bread

Carrot Cake with Roasted Garlic Cream Frosting

Come in Costume!

Part of our Garlic dinner tradition is to ask our guests to come in costume for this Halloween event. Some play along... the waitstaff always does.... as you can see here... the medieval m'lady Nancy, Steelers fan Colleen, and the ready-for-bedtime momma Susanna. We're holding the appetizer plate we served. It included Rosemary Garlic Jelly with Pear & Brie Crostini, Stuffed Mushrooms in Garlicky Wine Sauce, Garlic Salsa with sweet pepper 'chips', and Sauteed Chicken with Garlicky Blueberry Dipping Sauce. Several guests requested the mushroom recipe... so here it is.... enjoy!

Stuffed Mushrooms in Garlicky Wine Sauce
2 Tbsp. butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 c. dry white wine
2/3 c. chicken broth
1 5.2 oz. container semi-soft cheese with garlic & herbs (Boursin perhaps)
2 doz. whole mushrooms

Melt butter over medium heat, in a medium skillet. Toss in shallots and garlic and saute until slightly browned. Add wine and broth. Bring just to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove stems from mushrooms. Top each mushroom with a portion (slightly less than a teaspoon) of semi-soft cheese. Place filled mushrooms in a rectangular baking dish, cheese side up. Pour wine sauce around mushrooms. Bake, uncovered, for 10 - 12 minutes. Serve hot. Garnish with finely snipped fresh herbs.

From the Garden to the Kitchen

Recently, Nancy, of Lemon Verbena Lady's blog, gifted us with five beautiful jars of homemade jelly. Nancy is an avid herb gardener, lecturer, and guest blogger for the Herb Companion. Her blog clearly demonstrates her love for both herb gardening and her herbal husband, with whom she happily shares the garden and the kitchen. Nancy has been busy both in the garden growing the herbs for the jelly, and then in the kitchen making and canning this wide assortment of tasty jellies, and I'm so thankful to be a happy recipient of several of her jams and jellies. I was happy to share the Rosemary Garlic Jelly with our guests at the Garlic Garlic Garlic Dinner on Tuesday evening.

Nancy has kindly shared the Rosemary Garlic Jelly recipe on her blog.

To use the jelly as an appetizer, I sliced a French baguette and toasted it lightly in the oven. (350 degrees, about 5 minutes). Spread some Brie on the baguette, and then top with the Rosemary Garlic jelly to which I had mixed in minced fresh pear. It was a nice combination, and enjoyed by many.

Thanks again Nancy! We are enjoying your fabulous homemade gift! Nothing better!

Oven Roasted Garlic

Oven Roasted Garlic is a very easy process that produces a sweet yet slightly mellow almost nutty flavored paste. Simply slice the top off the entire head of garlic, and remove as much of the papery outer skin encasing the cloves without causing them to break apart. Place the heads in a baking dish to which you have added about 1/4 c. water. Drizzle olive oil over each garlic head. Cover entire pan with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for one hour. Baste after 30 minutes. Monitor the oil and water level, adding a touch of each if necessary.
The garlic is done when the cloves are soft and easily pierced with a toothpick.

After they have cooled, squeeze the garlic from the casing. This can be used 'as is' and smeared on warm toasty bread for a superb garlic spread. Roasted garlic is also a great addition to mashed potatoes for a delicious flavor combination. This garlic was roasted, pureed in a food processor, and baked into a Garlic & Black Olive Quick Bread (actually 3 loaves) for dinner tonight.

This recipe has many variations... from oven temperature (325, 375, 400) to cooking time (45 min., one hour) to whether you should slice the top off or not (I prefer slicing off the top, makes it easier to remove the roasted garlic when they are done.). Essentially a no-fail recipe, any method will produce a delicious garlic paste to be enjoyed in any number of ways.

If you aren't using all of the garlic paste, it will keep for one week in the refrigerator, or for longer storage, freeze for later use.

Sealed with a Clove.

Our Annual Garlic Dinner is tomorrow evening - a Halloween tradition around here. Almost everyone in the family *loves* garlic along with a crowd of Rosemary House/Sweet Remembrances guests. The cook, however, prefers garlic in moderation. Tomorrow evenings dinner is anything but 'garlic in moderation'. Typically, by the end of the meal, each guest will have consumed three heads of garlic (yes, heads, not cloves). In order to continue with this annual event, we made a deal years ago... if Susanna peels the garlic, I will cook with it. Here's the first bowl full of peeled garlic... ready to be chopped~minced~roasted~marinated~chocolate covered etc.... all in preparation for the Garlic Feast. She'll be peeling the rest of the garlic later this evening. It's a deal.

Chocolate Covered Garlic

We used this 'book' to offer the chocolate covered garlic at the end of our Garlic Dinner. Each time you open the cover, there is a unique comment in a witchy voice, with about 6 different phrases. We had fun opening and closing this book, offering Chocolate Covered Garlic to all those that dare. Thanks Marj, our Jim Thorpe sister, for sharing this book with us!

Chocolate Covered Garlic

Peel and separate 20 cloves of garlic. Place garlic cloves in a small pan of water and boil until tender, about 6 minutes. Drain garlic, pat dry, and set aside. Melt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate in microwave. Add 1 tsp. shortening to melted chocolate. Stir well. Dip each garlic clove in melted chocolate, place on wax paper. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Refrigerate until firm. Place in candy cups, and enjoy!

Note: For true Garlic die-hard fans and a real 'garlic bite', do not boil the garlic cloves.

Our Annual Garlic Dinner

was held last night....
and we dressed for the occasion.

The Menu

Garlicky Bacon Pinwheels

Cheesy Garlic Cheddar Sweet Peppers

Rosemary Garlic Jelly over Cream Cheese with crackers

Garlic Potato Chowder

Lemon Dijon Garlic Chicken Breast

Very Garlic Broccoli Pasta

Boiled Cloves of Garlic

Roasted Garlic Parmesan Bread

Garlic Carrot Cake

Chocolate Dipped Garlic Cloves

More on Garlic

Happy Halloween! Clear, Crisp Fall Weather today.

Our much in demand annual Garlic dinner was a delicious success last night. The program portion of the evening was on the "Genius of Garlic" and the amazing synergy that occurs within that bulb. We spoke on how the Allinin amino acid and the Allinase biological enzyme work together once the clove is crushed or chopped to create the Allicin -- the strongly medicinal constituent that is both antibacterial and antiviral as well as antifungal. The Allicin is unstable and begins to break down into Diallyl Disulphide which is also medicinally active especially on the blood stream for hypertension or cholesterol. On top of all that the amount of trace minerals that appear in proportionally high amounts are copper, iron, zinc, tin, calcium and magnesium (both needed for absorption of calcium), germanium, an anti-Cancer agent, and selenium which supports the activity of Vitamin E and C. And as if that's not enough Garlic also has Vitamin A, C, B1 plus some B2 and B3. It is the combination of the B1 (thiamine) and allicin which is true genius. The allicin aids in the absorption of the B1 vitamin through the digestive tract. This thiamine/allicin combination is not common in the plant world. What a ingenious design for this flavorful stinkin' rose! Last night we ate garlic in excess --which was lots of fun -- but really what is suggested is to ingest a small amount daily. So I'm on a crusade to get everyone to eat a little garlic daily. If we all ate a little garlic daily - then we would all smell alittle garlicy and the odor wouldn't be considered offensive.

Garlic - The Stinking Rose

Tonight is the annual Garlic Dinner to be held at Sweet Remembrances. This favorite event is typically held on or around Halloween, to keep the vampires at bay. A simple garlic necklace or garlic heads strewn about will protect you. With the amount of garlic in our dinner, we feel we are quite nicely protected!

The menu:

Garlic & Hot Pepper Jelly with Cream Cheese and Crackers

Local Organic Tomatoes & Eggplant with Basil, Garlic & Balsamic Vinegar

Leafy Green Salad tossed with a Rustic Garlic Dressing

Oven Roasted Pork with Garlic & Sage

Rice Pilaf with Peppers & Pinenuts

Garlic Green Beans

The Ultimate Garlic Bread (a Rosemary House specialty)

Gingersnap Pear Cheesecake with Creamed Garlic Honey Glaze

The scent of garlic is starting to perfume the air. By the time our guests arrive this evening, the fragrance will be discernible blocks away. It's always a special event!