Culinary School Trick: Garlic Paste

I just want to take a quick moment to devote some time to talking about the role my latest endeavor (culinary school) will have on my blog.  I just sort of jumped into it and now feel like I'm looking at the pieces of my blog like a puzzle, figuring out how everything will snap into place and be whole.  I'm also sensitive to the fact that while culinary school is now a big part of my life and I will talk about it (a lot) it won't be all that I talk about.  I want to remain true to my blog's mission: to provide my readers with stories from my adventure in my Small Boston Kitchen, talk about local food-type events, happenings and trends and also to use this as an outlet to talk about whatever I'm into at the moment or want to go on tangents about (this usually applies to cheese).

That being said, it would be silly of me (and kind of rude, I think) to hog all of the new and neat little tricks that I am soaking up at school.  So today I bring you one of the easiest and most delicious things that I have ever learned to do with garlic; turn it into garlic paste.  It's something that is so simple and yet so amazing, it will completely change the way you use garlic (at least for me it has!).  Essentially, turning garlic into a paste will make for a smooth consistent garlic taste, without being stuck with strong chunks of it in your meal.  Below I've provided step-by-step instructions on how to make your own homemade garlic paste.

Homemade Garlic Paste

To make garlic paste, it's very simple.  First, start out with a head of garlic and then smash it to pull out some of the cloves.

Then, take the flat part of your knife and smash the garlic clove to help loosen up the papery skin.  Separate the garlic from the skin and cut off any bits of the root.

Mince up the garlic.

Pour a generous amount of sea salt onto the pile on minced garlic and chop it again, incorporating the garlic and the salt.

Using the flat part of your knife, drag it across the garlic so that you are smearing it into the cutting board.

Repeat a couple times and then stack the garlic into a neat pile and chop it again.  Then drag and smear again.

Repeat this a couple of times until the garlic releases a lot of moisture and a paste forms. (At this point your cutting board should be visibly wet.)

This paste is best used in dressings and sauces or in situations when you don't want lots of chunks of garlic but still want the flavor of it.  I personally think this is fantastic on bread.  Using my Homemade Whole Wheat English Muffin Bread, I toasted it up and spread some butter and then spread a thin layer of the garlic paste on top and toasted it all up.  At the last second, I added a couple pinches of crushed rosemary and then toasted it a bit more just to bring out all the flavors.  Then I ate it right out of the oven when it was still warm and delightfully crispy. Oh my....garlic is amazing.

Homemade English Muffin Bread with Garlic Paste and Dried Rosemary