Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. A double-whammy of calories and carbohydrates are going on our dinner table tonight. Why? Because eating spaghetti and meatballs without a great big basket of garlic bread on the table is, gulp, culinarily criminal. We'll have a salad too, because it too goes great with this meal (not because it's healthy or to make me feel less guilty). Everybody knows spaghetti and meatballs require garlic bread, a salad and a bottle of red wine.
Garlic bread isn't Italian. Neither is spaghetti & meatballs.
While many regard spaghetti & meatballs as quintessential Italian, the dish was created in the U.S. in the early 1900's. Italian meatballs were not initially served with pasta. They were served alone, as a course at a meal, as was the pasta. The two got teamed together in Italian restaurants to appease Americans who wanted meat served on the same plate with with their pasta. The type of garlic bread we have all come to love is believed to have originated in the U.S. in the 1950's, when Italian-American home cooks created a spin-off of Italian bruschetta/garlic toast (a slice of bread brushed with olive oil, grilled, then rubbed with garlic) using on-hand pantry ingredients of the time period. The end result was a buttery loaf of highly-flavored slightly-crunchy bready snacks to accompany their favorite Italian-American red-sauce-restaurant dishes.
A great garlic bread starts with a high-quality loaf of bread. A firm dense-textured loaf textured bread is the place to start -- a loaf of roasted-garlic bread (meaning roasted garlic has been baked into the bread) is a better place to start, as it lends an extra-layer of garlic flavor. For ease of service and a prettier presentation, in my kitchen, I believe the French batard (a squatter, plumper, denser version of a baguette) to be the ideal foil for making garlic bread.
1 12-ounce roasted-garlic or plain batard, preferably the bake-at-home kind
For the garlic bread spread:
3 half-sticks salted butter, at room temperature, very soft (6 ounces) (Note: I'm pointing out half-sticks of butter to make the ratio I use more apparent to you when reading the ingredients list. This will make it easy to adjust (calculate) the recipe for different-sized loaves of different shapes. To every half-stick of butter, add 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 clove garlic, 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese and 1/4 teaspoon each of designated herbs and spices.)
1 tablespoon olive oil (3 teaspoons)
3 large garlic cloves, run through a press (about 1 1/2 teaspoons pressed garlic), or, 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic paste may be substituted
3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend
3/4 teaspoon dehydrated, minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
3 tablespoons finely-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
~Step 1. In a 2-cup food storage container, place all ingredients except cheese. Stir until thoroughly combined. Add and stir in the cheese. Cover and set aside, at room temperature, 30-45 minutes, to give flavors time to marry. During this time, preheat oven to 375º with oven rack positioned in the upper third. Uncover and give the mixture one last thorough stir.
~Step 2. Line a 12 1/2" x 8 3/4" baking pan with parchment paper. Using a serrated bread knife, slice the batard in half lengthwise horizontally, then slice each half into four even-sized pieces. Using a butter knife, generously slather each piece of bread with the garlic spread. Keep slathering until all of the spread is used up and atop the bread pieces.
~Step 3. Place pan of bread in oven preheated as directed above. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until the garlic spread has had time to slowly melt down into the bread and the bread has had time to crisp in the buttery meltdown, and, essentially oven-fry. Remove from oven and cool slightly, in pan, 2-3 minutes prior to transferring to a plate or a basket to serve.
Great garlic bread -- the snack Italian-Americans made...
... crispy outside, chewy inside, lots of butter & garlic flavor:
A Great Garlic Bread Spread for Great Garlic Bread: Recipe yields 1, 12-ounce loaf garlic bread/8 pieces/8 side-servings or snacks.
Special Equipment List: garlic press; microplane grater, spoon; cutting board; serrated bread knife; 12 1/2" x 8 3/4" baking pan; parchment paper; butter knife
Cook's Note: Garlic knots are a form of garlic bread -- they're typically made using the same butter-garlic mixture the eatery uses to make garlic bread. In the beginning, they were found primarily in pizzarias in and around New York City and they were a way of making use of scraps of pizza dough. As an appetizer, they come to you with a side of marinara sauce for dipping, and, because they are made from scraps, a basket of them often comes complimentary with more expensive menu items. ~ For Times When You Gotta Have Garlic Knots ~.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2019)
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