Garlic and its gastronomic uses

Your mother’s or grandmother’s recipes would never be the same without garlic, or would you dare say otherwise? The use of this vegetable in the kitchen is almost essential to flavor those foods that we like so much.

In addition, its medicinal uses are incredibly infinite, so while you give an excellent seasoning to your stews you are bringing great benefits to your health.

Garlic offers a characteristic aroma that enchants diners and delights those who cook. It is also an ingredient that your palate will appreciate if it is properly used.

In Mediterranean food, this natural flavoring is widely used, and has also become indispensable in many dishes.

Its popularity is worldwide. In Spain, for example, there is the Zamora Garlic Fair, also known as the San Pedro Fair, which takes place once in a year and sells up to one million kilos of garlic, thanks to the fact that farmers in the area and adjacent areas show the best of their crops.

Garlic is the base for rice dishes, stews, pasta, sauces of different types and there is a great variety of this vegetable. It’s the king of gastronomy.

Best of all, because it is consumed in small quantities in the kitchen, it does not provide extra calories, so if you are on a diet for weight loss, flavoring with natural garlic will be a great option.

Although the best version of it is the natural one, you can also get it in powdery form in supermarkets for those days when you don’t have much time or don’t want to get your hands dirty with the powerful scent of garlic.

Garlic Chicken Recipe

This recipe is designed for approximately 4 people.

Ingredients

• 5 kilos of chicken, which can be as you prefer: chicken breast, thighs or chopped chicken.
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of white wine
• 2 bay leaves (optional)
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Olive oil
• 2 cups of chicken broth

Preparation

1. The first thing you have to do is cut the chicken. If you have it whole you must cut it up and if they are breasts, it is necessary to cut them into small cubes. Reserve.
2. Apart from chopping the garlic or you can also crush it with a mortar, the idea is to make it as smaller as possible.
3. Place a frying pan or a pot with the olive oil and add the chopped garlic cloves. Don’t forget to put it on a low heat to prevent the garlic from burning, because if you don’t take care of it, it’s very easy for it to burn.
4. After about 3 minutes or until the garlic begins to brown, remove from the pan and set aside.
5. In the same utensil where you fried the garlic you will place the chicken until it is very brown.
6. Once well browned, add the cup of white wine and wait for the alcohol to evaporate for about 4 minutes. Enjoy the smell of your pot.
7. Then add the chicken broth along with the garlic you fried first and reserved.
8. Cover and let reduce the broth with the wine until you get a thicker liquid, similar to a sauce. When this happens, your chicken will be ready to serve.

Advice:

It will be much faster if it is breast, but if the chicken is chopped, you must be sure that it is well cooked inside. Always remember to use low heat, because high heat will burn it on the outside and it will be raw when serving it.

For the garnish, you can choose between mashed, sautéed and fried potatoes, but if you don’t like it you can choose a good white or seasoned rice as you like.