"Things won are done,
Joy's Soul lies in the Doing."
- William Shakespeare

Friday, August 5, 2011

Transformed

Retro flashback...garlic bread.  Yep, perfectly tasty.  And perfectly boring.  We've been eating this stuff for decades, right?  Not anymore, fine people.

Let's lively things up a bit, shall we?  


Two-Mustard Garlic Baguette.  Complete with a lot of crumbs in the background.  Nice.  Oops.  I do believe the natives were getting restless here, and demanding food.  Thus, the rushed photos.

This oldie, but goodie, transformed, comes at you via French Revolution.  I am utterly and completely devoted to dijon, and this recipe really kicks its flavor up several notches.  So easy and quick to make too.  Throw it alongside a salad, and you've just brought your dinner to a new level.  Nicely done!

As I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table, I did not take the time to slice the bread as per recipe suggestion, with crosswise slits not quite all the way through, spreading the garlic-dijon mixture on each one.  Instead, I simplified, and just cut the whole baguette in half, lengthwise, and spread the divine mess over it.


Also, every garlic bread recipe I come across seems to have an ungodly amount of butter on it.  I mean, I love me some butter, don't get me wrong, folks...but...well, sheesh, even I can't cope with an entire stick on one baguette.  That's just getting too crazy.  Not to say, of course, that I wouldn't eat it.  I just, on occasion, try to avoid the "sitting in the corner, rhythmically rocking to the tune of my guilty conscience" episode that would surely follow such gluttonous adventures.

I also made use of the abundance of green garlic we've got happening at our house these days, courtesy of our CSA box.  You can use regular, cured garlic, just cut the amount a bit, since fresh garlic is slightly milder.

Here's my adaptation:

Two-Mustard Garlic Baguette - adapted from French Revolution

1/2 stick unsalted butter (4 Tbs), at room temperature
3 cloves green (fresh) garlic, minced
1 Tbs dijon mustard
1 Tbs + 1 tsp grainy dijon mustard
2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
leaves from one small stem of thyme
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 baguette

Preheat oven to 350 deg F/ 180 deg C.

Mix the softened butter with mustards, garlic, herbs, and season with salt and pepper.  Spread over the baguette (in whatever way you wish), wrap with aluminum foil, and bake for 20 minutes.

Slice, and serve it up to some very happy folks.


Have a great meal!

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