The joys of a garlic press

I was reading this month's top 10 tips over at the e-zine, in which Colleen Gleason talks about easy ways to improve your cooking. Her great article really hit home. Especially since we cook nearly everything with a few cloves of garlic added in (no vampires here). The problem is that we don't use jarred chopped garlic because my cooking partner is against it (I am totally for it, a little jar already chopped? Bring it on). He always says, "We can just chop it ourselves, it doesn't take much longer." Well, I'll tell you, when I get hungry EVERYTHING takes too long. Enter in a little contraption called the garlic press. *insert angel's singing*

My cooking partner was a non-believer, and it took a gift from an outside party (my Mom) to make him use one. He loves that thing now. It halves the prep time and you can reload as needed. Just stick your clove into the press, crunch it together, and voila! Crushed garlic in your pan. We peel our cloves first, so that we can use everything, but no peeling is technically required. And it really does work. A quick rinse has the peeler ready to use again. And if someone ever breaks into your home, you can use it as a weapon. Seriously. I once used it to tenderize meat, before I had my little meat mallet.

Anyone else have something in the kitchen they deem indispensable? Something that they might have scoffed at previously? Or is there an herb you can't cook without? In addition to garlic, we put chilies in just about everything. ;)

posted by Anne Mallory @ 12:47 PM