Garlic Breath Recommended

About author / Sarah Christine Bolton

Coffee addict; professional food writer; food fusion. Her slow cooker recipes go above and beyond your normal crockpot fare.

Over the summer, I had the chance to guest teach at a friend’s dance school. We had gone to college together, and she graduated before I did, moved back to her home state of Pennsylvania, and took over an existing ballet academy.

Besides the fact that it was great to be teaching again after a couple years of not doing it, I enjoyed hanging out with my friend each night after classes were over. She’s Italian, and she’s a good cook, so between those two variables, we ate really, really well every single night. Every meal would have a theme. One night we did tropical grilled pineapple, shrimp and pork with pina coladas. The night before, we had margaritas and delicious chicken fajitas.

In the kitchen, I was mainly the assistant. I did whatever she asked me to do or whatever needed to be done to facilitate her talent at the stove. Every night, regardless of what we were cooking, she would start off by chopping up several cloves of garlic into tiny pieces. (She is Italian, after all.) Then, she fried the garlic in olive oil, and added it to whatever sauce, dip, etc. we were making. The kitchen started smelling delicious about one minute after the garlic hit the hot oil. I wondered if maybe that was part of the reason she did it—as sort of an appetite teaser.

Highway 101 is a major freeway that runs vertically up the middle of the state of California. On this freeway, between San Luis Obispo and Monterey, there is a little town called Gilroy. For those of you who might not be up on your garlic knowledge, Gilroy is considered the Garlic Capital of the World. When you drive through the town, you can’t really argue that fact too much. You smell garlic coming through your car air vents a long time before you ever see Gilroy.

Besides the annual garlic festival (the one in June 2009 will be on the 31st), Gilroy is also famous for a theme park/botanical garden. It used to be called Bonfante Gardens, but it’s now simply Gilroy Gardens. Yes, there are garlic-themed rides. Yes, I have ridden on them. And yes, we did always smell like garlic after a day in Gilroy.

Regardless of what your favorite food is, chances are you can find the garlic version of it in Gilroy. You can find pickled garlic, garlic sausage, and even garlic ice cream and garlic chocolate! One thing I never tried was the garlic wine from Gilroy winery Rapazzini Wineries. Seriously, garlic wine. That’s hardcore.

I try and remember to add garlic to my cooking, but I usually forget unless the recipe explicitly calls for it. If I got some of that wine, I wouldn’t have to remember the garlic. Holy breath mint!

Serves/Makes: 8

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups rice
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper, to taste