In Pursuit of Garlic by Liz Primeau

Author:Liz Primeau [Primeau, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781553656029
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
Published: 2012-03-15T07:00:00+00:00

* * *

Garlic is my salt and pepper.

MARGEE BERRY, first-prize winner, Great Garlic Cook-Off

* * *

I HAVE a special reason for being on time for Saturday’s Great Garlic Cook-Off: I’d entered a recipe in the contest months before and sometimes, in the moments before falling asleep, I’d fantasized about preparing the dish onstage and then modestly accepting a prize. Not necessarily first—second or third would do. Even being among the eight finalists would be grand.

My recipe didn’t even make the first cut. It’s a simple dish of steamed rapini sautéed in olive oil and chopped garlic (the rules require no less than 3 teaspoons, or 15 mL), served over soft garlic-and-basil polenta, and topped with a poached egg, with garlic-laced salsa fresca on the side. It’s one of my favorite breakfasts, one I came up with when I had some leftover rapini and polenta in the fridge, and I thought it was an easy but good-tasting recipe the judges might like. Once I see what the eight finalists—who’d been selected from hundreds of entries—are cooking up there on the stage, and what seasoned contest participants they are, I realize what I’d been up against. Their recipes are much more creative than mine. While the judges are tallying their results (and because I’d managed to wangle a media badge that allowed me on the Cook-Off Stage), I have a taste of Penny Malcolm’s Roasted Garlic, Blueberry, and Pear Cobbler with Garlic-Pecan Brickle Cream. “This is amazing,” I say as the flavors explode in my mouth. It’s sweet and savory, smooth and crunchy. And the subtle taste of garlic fits right in. Penny grins.

“I also entered a Brie pecan pie with garlic, but it didn’t make it to the finals, so don’t feel bad about yours,” she says. She’s come here from Americus, Georgia, to prepare her cobbler on stage. “This is the third time I’ve entered and the first time I made it to the finals. But unlike some of the other competitions I’ve been in, this one is pretty informal, so it’s easier.”

“The others?” I exclaim. “How many do you enter?”

“About twenty-four a year,” she says matter-of-factly.

“How many have you won?”

“Twelve. It can rule your life after a while.”

Penny’s amazing cobbler doesn’t win. Margee Berry’s Warm- Weather Watermelon Crabmeat-Kissed South Seas Soup takes first place. Margee’s no stranger to the Gilroy contest either. “I won third prize here about nine years ago, then second six years ago,” she says. She came from Trout Lake, Washington, the day before to shop for ingredients, as did the other contestants, who are expected to supply everything except the garlic. “Once you win you have to wait three years to enter again. But I figured I had a pattern going and this time I was sure to take first.”

Her cool soup has a contemporary combination of flavors perfect for a hot summer day. At first it’s sweet, then minty. The garlic appears and then backs off and you taste the ginger, the hot chilies and lemongrass.

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