My family love garlic bread. Usually it’s a simple approach, a halved baguette smeared with garlic butter and toasted in a very hot oven until browned. Cookbook maven and TV host Ina Garten offers a more glorified approach, a method with more flavor and imagination.
She calls it her “Outrageous Garlic Bread.” She slathers the baguette with lots of slow-cooked garlic and Parmesan, plus parsley and lemon zest. A pinch of dried red pepper flakes. Yum.
Ina Garten’s Outrageous Garlic Bread
Yield: 8 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 head of garlic, cloves separated and peeled; see cook’s notes
1 cup freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (20 to 24-inch long) crusty French baguette
Parchment paper
Fleur de sel or sea salt
Cook’s notes: You can prepare the garlic mixture up to 3 days in advance and refrigerate. Warm it very slightly in a microwave to make it just spreadable, and then prepare and bake the bread just before serving.
To peel garlic, smash each clove lightly on a board with a chef’s knife or place cloves in a small pot of boiling water for 15 to 30 seconds and the peels will come right off.
DIRECTIONS
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the garlic, stir to coat with the butter, and cook, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is very tender. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside until cool. Mash garlic in the butter with a fork. Stir in Parmesan, parsley, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
3. Slice the baguette in half lengthwise and place both halves, cut side up, on a cutting board. Score each diagonally (don’t cut all the way through) in large serving-size pieces. Spoon all of the garlic mixture generously on the cut sides of the bread. Cut each half of the baguette in half crosswise along a score and place the 4 pieces on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, until the topping is bubbly and starting to brown and the bread is crisp. Transfer to a board, cut in serving pieces along the scores, sprinkle with fleur de sel, and serve warm.
Source: “Modern Comfort Food” by Ina Garten
Award-winning food writer Cathy Thomas has written three cookbooks, including “Melissa’s 50 Best Plants on the Planet.” Follow her at CathyThomasCooks.com.