Garlic, Goddess of Gastronomy (and a horrible confession)

There are two types of people in this world. Garlic lovers and garlic haters. If you only like a sprinkling of garlic in your dish then you, in my eyes, are a garlic hater. I myself am a garlic lover. My motto is "There is no such thing as too much garlic." In fact, a favorite appetizer of mine is to roast whole bulbs of garlic (with its top shaved off) and then squeeze the soft, hot, gooey cloves from their little paper homes and smear the delicacy on toasted French bread. That's as pure and unadulterated as you can get. I can put away nearly a whole bulb if I have the time and materials.

I've long been aware of my garlic love but for some reason it's fallen to the wayside in my cooking. I usually  buy whole garlic bulbs, three or four at a time, and mince them at home using my trusty Cuisinart, but I keep forgetting, and I rarely have time anymore to sit and peel 4 bulbs' worth of cloves. And then ridiculous Trader Joe's with its ridiculously good prices on spices (ooh, a rhyme) has their bottles of garlic powder, which makes it just so much easier. But even then, there was probably a month or more where my kitchen was garlic-less. Imagine the vamprie infestation!

Last night though, I made a little pasta dish with linguine boiled in chicken broth and sliced chicken breast sauteed with chopped broccoli, roasted bell pepper, garden tomatoes, garden basil and yellow onion. And a shitload of garlic powder. I mean, I coated the chicken in the garlic powder, and when the linguine was cooked and hanging out in a mix of pasta water and butter, I sprinkled at least another tablespoon on them. I plated it up for Todd and me in big bowls, pasta on bottom, meat and veggies on top, with an obscene amount of parmesan, salt and pepper and yep, you guessed it, more garlic. HEAVEN. Todd had the audacity to pour jarred tomato sauce on his and even said he shouldn't have done it, but when I oohed and aahed about the garlic, he added more to his too and we sat in companionable, chewy silence as we watched The Bachelor Pad. Oh God why did I say that?

Anyways, it made me realize that I need to get off my lazy ass, buy some garlic and get to peeling because it really is the spice of life. Aside from cumin. And thyme. And pepper. AND SALT. Oh I love salt.