Friday, May 30, 2008

PARSLEY-GARLIC BREAD

There is no better accompaniment to a meal than garlic bread. Years ago, I made it with butter; then I switched to extra virgin olive oil; now I use Smart Balance Lite. I used to just mash the garlic with the fat; now I add herbs. Just parsley is great, but feel free to add other herbs as well. Thyme, oregano, basil and rosemary all work well with the garlic to provide a flavorful bread. Garlic bread is fast and easy, so there's really never any excuse to buy the premade stuff which is vastly inferior to homemade. Another reason to make it yourself: you can make any quantity you want -- small to large -- allowing you to use up leftover rolls or French or Italian breads. Why would anyone ever want to buy garlic bread when it's so easy to make?

Parsley-Garlic Bread
Ratiing: 10 out of 10
Any quantity of French, Italian, Sourdough or other crusty bread or crusty rolls
About 1 tsp. of Smart Balance Lite for each slice of bread -- estimate (if you don't have enough, you can easily make more; if there's too much, use it on veggies or keep it for the next batch of garlic bread)
Chopped parsley leaves (again, estimate -- you'll get the hang of it after you do it a few times)
Minced garlic (you know the drill )
Any other herbs you might like to add

Preheat oven to 400F. Cut the bread or rolls into slices, but don't cut all the way through to the bottom. Let the bread be attached at the bottom. Mix the Smart Balance, parsley, garlic and any other herbs till everything is well combined and evenly distributed. With a bread knife, butter each slice. (I butter each side of the slices, but only one side needs to be buttered.) Wrap the bread in tinfoil and bake about 15-20 minutes, or till thoroughly hot all the way through. Place the bread in a bread basket and serve immediately.

1 comment:

Sharona May said...

I agree! I love a good Italian loaf. Sounds good.

Sharona May