THE GLORY OF GARLIC

Tonight we took a cooking class with Chris McKone on the glories of garlic. The recipes for the night were : Garlic Soup with sauteed shrimp, Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic,Roasted garlic & goat cheese flan, garlic mashed potatoes, and Rapini (broccoli rabe) with garlic and red pepper.

This was a hands on class so everyone picked a recipe they wanted to work on and went to that station. There were about 3 or 4 people per recipe.

We had to do all the cooking and have things timed so everything would be ready for serving at around 8:00. We all did pretty good. Sue and I had the easiest one the Rapini. Basically we picked off all the discolored leave and cut off the tough part of the stems and blanched the rapini. Then at the last minute we sauteed the rapini with dried chili flakes and garlic slices. So easy and so good! The star of the evening was the flan. It was amazing! Jacob, the administrative assistant was at a loss for words when he tried it. I think the whole room went quiet and a look of awe was on every ones face.. I think a lot of us were wondering if we could lick the ramekin.

Here is the recipe:

1/2 C roasted garlic cloves

1 C good quality goat cheese or Chevere

4 large eggs

11/2 C cream

2 Tbs freshly grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

1/4C chopped chives

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325. Butter 4 (3X2") ramekins and line bottom with rounds of parchment then butter paper.

In food processor add the roasted garlic, goat cheese, eggs, milk, cheese, chives salt and pepper. Process until smooth about 1-2 min.

Pour mixture into ramekins and bake in a hot water bath until flan is set and wooden pick or skewer inserted comes out clean, about 30 min.

Transfer pan to a rack to cool slightly, 10- 15 min.

Run knife around edge of flan to loosen, then invert a serving plate over ramekin and invert flan onto plate. discard the paper.. serve immediately.

*You do not need to invert the flan onto a plate, in this case just butter the ramekin and do not use the parchment paper.

Makes 4 servings