Eat, drink and stink - California's Garlic Festival - includes recipes, related articles, a glossary and a list of resources

Vegetarian Times, May, 1997 by Karen Cope Straus

Garlic Country Cornmeal Biscuits

Patricia Lee Henry of Moreno Valley, Calif., won first place with this new take on a classic.

Garlic Mixture:

1/4 cup chopped elephant or regular

garlic 1/2 cup butter or margarine 2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro 1 to 2 drops hot pepper sauce

Topping:

2 Tbs. all-purpose unbleached flour 2 tsp. cornmeal 1/2 tsp. sugar 1 Tbs. garlic mixture

Dough:

1 cup yellow cornmeal plus 1 tsp. 1 2/3 cups all-purpose, unbleached

flour 1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. baking powder 1 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 1 egg, beaten 1/2 to 3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Garlic Mixture: Saute garlic in butter until tender, about 3 minutes; stir in cilantro and hot pepper sauce. Cool.

Topping: Combine all topping ingredients; set aside.

Dough: Sprinkle lightly oiled baking sheet with 1 teaspoon cornmeal; set aside. Mix together in medium bowl remaining cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Stir in remaining garlic mixture, egg and enough buttermilk to form moist dough. Lightly knead dough on floured surface 5 to 6 times. Divide dough in half Shape each half into ball; pat each ball into 6-inch round. Lightly press topping into each round. Cut each round all the way through into 6 wedges, but do not separate. Arrange on prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden brown about 20 minutes. Makes 12 biscuits.

PER BISCUIT: 180 CAL.; 4G PROT.; 6G TOTAL FAT (4G SAT. FAT); 27G CARB.; 32MG CHOL.; 169MG SOD.; 1G FIBER. OVO-LACTO

Roasted Garlic Cheese Round with Warm Tomato Sauce

This savory dish earned hometown favorite Judy Samuel-Keyes third place.

Crust:

3 cups water 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup uncooked polenta (see glossary,

p. 110) 1 Tbs. butter 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

Filling:

3 cups chopped sweet onions such

as Maui or Vidalia 3 Tbs. butter 2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, room

temperature 1 cup ricotta cheese (see glossary, p. 110) 1 tsp. salt 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cayenne 2 heads roasted garlic, cooled,

cloves separated and skins

removed (see note) 5 eggs Warm Tomato Sauce as needed

(recipe follows)

Crust: Bring water to a boil; stir in salt. Stirring constantly, drizzle polenta into boiling water. Reduce heat to low; stir in butter and thyme. Cook, stirring constantly, until polenta thickens and pulls away from sides of pan and tastes cooked, about 20 minutes. Pour polenta into oiled, 10-inch springform pan. Spread evenly over bottom with spoon. (Dipping spoon frequently in cold water makes spreading easier.) Set aside.

Filling: In nonstick frying pan, saute onions in butter over low heat, stirring until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With an electric mixer (do not use blender or food processor), beat together cream cheese, ricotta, salt and cayenne. Beat in roasted garlic onions. Beat in egg one at a time. Pour mixture into prepared pan; bake 1 hour. Turn oven off, let cheese round sit in oven 15 minutes. Remove from oven; let sit 1 hour. Serve sliced with sauce. Makes 24 appetizer servings.

Note: To roast garlic, remove papery outer skin from bulbs, leaving bulbs intact. Arrange bulbs in small baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt to taste. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees until garlic is soft, about 1 1/4 hours. When cool enough to handle, separate cloves then squeeze doves out of skins.