Garlic Sauce - A Middle Eastern Recipe (And how to freeze garlic in bulk)

I fell in love with this galic sauce in Syria when I tried shwarma for the first time. This recipe is great because it will last for months in the fridge, and we use it as a condiment for pretty much anything... grilled chicken, nachos, sandwiches, roasted potatoes and Frech fries, or as an addition to a dip or as a dip by iteself! It is so easy to make and uses only 4 ingredients.

I buy my garlic is bulk and take 1 one cup aside for this sauce, and the rest I process for the freezer. Some garlic heads I roast, and then once cooled I peel and freeze. Some garlic I slice and freeze. And the majority of my garlic I mince and freeze. I'll show you my freezing process for the minced garlic at the end of the sauce recipe.

Middle Eastern Garlic Sauce

YIELD: 4 cups

INGREDIENTS

1 cup fresh garlic cloves, peeled

2 teaspoons salt

3 cups neutral oil such as canola

1/2 cup lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

It is important to start out with fresh garlic in order to get a proper emulsification.Add the garlic cloves and salt into a food processor, and process for a minute until the garlic becomes finely minced. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the food processor afterwards.

With the food processor running, slowly pour one to two tablespoons of oil, then stop and scrape down the bowl. Continue adding another tablespoon or two until the garlic starts looking creamy.

Once the garlic looks emulsified by the few tablespoons of oil, increase the speed of pouring the oil and alternate with the 1/2 cup of lemon juice until all the oil and lemon juice is incorporated. This will take about 15 minutes to complete.

Transfer the sauce into a container with an airtight lid and keep in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Freezing Garlic

To freeze minced garlic, I again use the food processor to mince it. I add nothing but peeled fresh garlic cloves and process it until it is my desired consistency.

Once I am satisfied with the textue, I scrape it out spread it into a large freezer bag. I smooth it out, seal the bag, and then freeze it flat. To make sure it freezes perfectly flat, I lay the bag on a cutting board or cookie tray in the freezer overnight. The next day, I cut open the bag and take out my frozen garlic slab. Then I cut it into cubes, usually into teaspoon-sized squares, and put it all back in a new freezer bag and back into the freezer. You can use the cubes while frozen if you are cooking with them (like tossing in a spaghetti sauce), or you can take them out of the freezer about a half before you need it if you are going to use them raw (like in a salad dressing) or if you need thawed before cooking (like to mix into a meatloaf).