Single-Serve Garlic Cubes

I'm a huge garlic fan. It goes in just about everything I cook, but I hate peeling/chopping/grating it. Plus, I'm always game for a new time-saver!

Here's how I keep my garlic fresh (in the freezer) and on-hand for instant garlicification:

I buy the big tubs of pre-peeled garlic from Costco. I've seen the same type of garlic sold in most grocery stores, too.  {note:  stay away from anything with more ingredients than just 'garlic,' because they probably have unnatural preservatives and a strange taste}

Fill your food processor, mini chopper, or blender with garlic cloves, and cover the cloves with unrefined olive oil. Add a little bit of salt. Turn your pulverizer of choice on and run until the mixture is smooth-ish and evenly blended.

Spoon the mix into a clean ice tray. If you can't easily spoon it, add a little more oil and blend again. {I didn't measure the oil-to-garlic ratio, so just keep adding oil until you get a texture that you're happy with}  Tap the trays on the counter to settle the mixture and remove any big bubbles.

Put the filled trays in the freezer for several hours, or until the garlic is totally frozen.

Put about an inch of hot water in a pyrex-type pan (tap water hot, not boiling hot). Set your ice tray in the hot water for about 30 seconds. Turn the tray over and twist *gently.* The cubes should fall out. If they don't, put the tray back in the water for another 15/30 seconds and try again. {I twisted the tray straight out of the freezer and it completely shattered all over the kitchen, so don't do that}

Because I didn't want the cubes refreezing in a big stuck-together ball, I laid them out on a plate and put them back in the freezer to completely reharden before I stuck them in a zipper freezer bag.

 

When you need to add garlic to any dish, just drop a cube or two into the pan, and voila!