I recently stumbled upon a great trick for work-week cooking: garlic paste. Not the kind you can buy in jars (which I find stale with a questionable aftertaste for the most part), but a paste that you whip up on the weekend and dip into all week.

Last month I cooked for more than 20 people on three different occasions -- it was so many people, I broke down and bought a bag of pre-peeled garlic. I was in catering mode.

At the month’s end, I had 30 cloves remaining. After handing some out to neighbors, I pureed the rest with a little olive oil and popped it in the fridge. 

You cannot believe how often I dipped into that jar. I used it all week long: a garlicky salad dressing for lunch, a small dab in egg salad, a spoonful into a quick tomato sauce for pasta, slathered and broiled on bread … and on and on it went. There is something about having that garlic already prepped that made me cook even more than I normally do. 

A few caveats:

  • Make a little at a time. I have found that I can always use 10-15 cloves a week.

  • It is intense; it is raw, fresh garlic after all. So use it judiciously, and be sure that whomever you will be kissing, or want to kiss later, eats with you. 

  • Refrigerate and use it or toss it after 5-7 days. It is so simple and inexpensive to make, there is simply no reason to risk food poisoning.  

Sally Swift
Sally Swift is the managing producer and co-creator of The Splendid Table. Before developing the show, she worked in film, video and television, including stints at Twin Cities Public Television, Paisley Park, and Comic Relief with Billy Crystal. She also survived a stint as segment producer on The Jenny Jones Show.