Adventures in Cooking - Garlic Bread

I wanted to challenge myself with this blog to cook something new everyday and write about it.

Well...yesterday wasn't that great, kitchen-wise. I spent some time cleaning all of the dishes that had piled up - as much as I love cooking, I hate the cleanup.

Dinner came around and Aric wanted to grill. We picked up some ribeye steaks from Meijer super cheap, and asparagus was on sale, so he grilled those. Tried a steak rub from Rachel Ray's magazine and it wasn't that great. Aric grilled the asparagus in garlic butter, which is apparently delicious. I don't know. Asparagus reminds me too much of broccoli stems, something that I am none too fond of.

My job was to bake some garlic bread. Normally I'm really great at it, but this was not my day. I stepped on SOMETHING super sharp and cut my foot open (normally I wear my slippers in the kitchen, but this was the one day that I didn't). While I was doctoring my foot, the garlic bread burned. I had just turned the broiler on to crisp up the cheese, and in my attempts to fix my foot, the bread burned in a really nasty way.

Aric ate the bread, and he said it tasted ok. I was too upset to really try it.

At any rate, it's a good recipe, when you're not bleeding all over the place. So I'll share it.

GARLIC BREAD
1 loaf french bread (I use whole grain french bread)
1/2 stick butter
2 cloves garlic
Parsley
Cheese (optional)

A NOTE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS
I usually eyeball this recipe. The amount of butter I use depends on two things: the amount of bread I'm using (I usually only do half a loaf, since it's just the two of us), and how big the stick of butter is at that point in time. I'd say I use about 1/4 stick of butter for half of the bread, but again, it all depends on how much I want and (more importantly) how much I've got left.

The same goes for the garlic and parsley. I just kind of add until it looks right. Admittedly, I am garlic-happy, so I probably add more than the average human being.

INSTRUCTIONS
1) Preheat oven to 350.
2) Slice bread in half, then in half again, horizontally.
3) Soften butter in microwave (about 10 seconds).
4) Stir in garlic and parsley.
5) Spread butter on bread, coating evenly.
6) Bake bread in oven for about 10 minutes, or until butter is melted and bread is slightly crispy.
7) If desired, add shredded cheese and put under broiler for a few minutes, until cheese is melted.
8) Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

THE BOTTOM LINE
What's nice about this recipe is that it's easy, delicious, and versatile. You can use as much or as little butter and garlic as you like. You can use fancy cheese to top it, if you like. Sometimes I use fancy garlic cheeses from Horrocks. Last night I tried pepper corn cheese - it might have been delicious in another life.

I can sum up my feelings about this garlic bread in one sentence: I will never use frozen, store-bought garlic bread ever again.

And that's all that really needs to be said, I think.