Middle Eastern Garlic Sauce Recipes

MIDDLE EASTERN GARLIC SAUCE

Steps:

• Place potatoes into a large pot and cover with salted water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and transfer to a bowl; mash until smooth. Set aside to cool.
• Put garlic, salt, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor; pour in enough oil to lightly coat garlic cloves. Blend mixture on high; slowly stream remaining oil through the top opening of the blender or food processor until mixture is smooth. Add mashed potatoes, about 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time, to the garlic mixture while blender is still running. Continue adding potatoes until all are incorporated. Transfer sauce to a bowl and refrigerate until chilled, 1 hour to overnight.

LEBANESE GARLIC SAUCE RECIPE

Steps:

• Put the garlic in the bowl of a food processor with the salt, and process until the garlic is as fine as possible.
• Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides as needed.
• Add a teaspoon of lemon juice and process to create a bit of a paste.
• With the food processor running, drizzle about 3 tablespoons into the paste.
• Add another one teaspoon of lemon juice.
• Add oil about a quarter cup at a time, followed by a teaspoon of lemon juice.
• Follow this alternating until you have used up your ingredients.
• The main thing to remember is to go slow, it can take ten or fifteen minutes to go through this process.

MIDDLE EASTERN GARLIC SAUCE

Steps:

• Separate garlic into cloves and peel. I simmered the cloves in milk in a small saucepan for 5 minutes to take a little of the bitterness out. Feel free to skip this step if you like.
• Add garlic and remaining ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. Keeps quite a few days refridgerated in a sealed container. Great with any kind of grilled meat, on sandwiches, with veggies, pizza -- pretty much anything!
• NOTE: I happened to have some cream so I added it, just to give it a bit of extra creaminess. I'm sure it would be just fine without it, as none of the recipes I referred to called for it.

MIDDLE EASTERN-INSPIRED HERB AND GARLIC CHICKEN

Steps:

• Combine chicken with all but 1 teaspoon of the grated garlic (save that teaspoon for the yogurt sauce), the zest and juice of 1 lemon, oil, parsley, mint, thyme, oregano, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and the sesame seeds and sumac, if using. Cover and marinate for 15 to 30 minutes at room temperature; you can refrigerate it for up to 24 hours.
• Heat grill or broiler. If grilling, cook chicken over high heat until charred in spots, 4 to 7 minutes. Flip pieces and continue grilling until just cooked through, another 4 to 7 minutes. If broiling, arrange a rack 3 to 4 inches from flame. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spread chicken out in a single layer. Broil chicken, turning halfway through cooking, until well colored and charred in spots, 4 to 7 minutes per side. Be careful that it doesn't burn.
• While chicken cooks, place yogurt in a small bowl. Stir in the reserved grated garlic and lemon zest and season to taste with salt. Serve the chicken drizzled with olive oil, remaining lemon juice to taste, black pepper, parsley and sesame seeds and sumac, if using, with the yogurt alongside for dipping.

THICK-STYLE LEBANESE GARLIC SAUCE

Steps:

• Place the garlic, salt, lemon juice, vegetable oil, and olive oil in a quart-sized jar. Submerge an immersion blender in the mixture to the bottom of the jar. Mix with the blender resting on the bottom of the jar until the ingredients thicken, 1 to 2 minutes. Angle the mixer to pull ingredients from the sides of the jar and lift it toward the top to better combine. Continue blending until the mixture reaches a texture similar to mayonnaise.