2 Sisters 2 Cities

Image Map

Gilroy Garlic Festival

Posted by on

Gilroy Garlic Festival Logo

Last weekend my boyfriend and I met up with some friends at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.  It was a beautiful sunny day, as it usually is around here, and the perfect day to go to a festival.  The Gilroy Garlic Festival is an annual festival that celebrates garlic and raises money for local fundraisers.  The city of Gilroy is known as the “Garlic Capital of the World,” although it’s not the world largest producer of garlic.  However, I am pretty sure all the garlic that is available in grocery store around here is from Gilroy.

What does a garlic festival consist of?  Well enough garlicky food to make you smell like garlic for the remainder of the night and most likely smell like garlic at work the next day!  Gilroy is only a 45 minute drive south from where we live so I have been wanting to go to this festival since we moved here last October. It was a fun experience and I am so glad we were able to go.

Drive To Gilroy

Fog rolling over the hills on the drive south to Gilroy.

Gilroy Sign

I love the Gilroy City sign with the garlic in the “G”

Gilroy Garlic Festival Flaming Garlic Bulb

A huge flaming garlic bulb meets you as you enter the festival.

Rows of Food

One of the food rows, the garlic bread was tasty! Three dollars for a bag with 3-4 pieces…sorry no picture of the bread because we ate it so quickly.

More Garlic Food

More food… love, love, love some garlic fries.

Beer Battered Garlic Fries

What’s better than garlic fries?  Beer Battered Garlic Fries.  ummm yumm

Icey Mimosa

An icey mimosa from the wine tent to cool down

Garlic Wines

Speaking of wine tents, they had garlic wine from a local vineyard that I sampled.  They had a red and a white wine.  It smelled like garlic and then tasted like wine with a garlic after taste.  It was very interesting to try, but I don’t think I could sit down with a whole bottle.

Garlic Ice Cream

Garlic Ice Cream is one of the attractions to the Garlic Festival.  One of the stands give small cones for free, but this stand had different flavors so we decided to try the Garlic Pistachio.

Garlic Pistachio Ice Cream

I am not sure if garlic pistachio ice cream is an award-winning combo, but it certainly was interesting!

Garlic Man

I am not sure what this guys name is but lets call him Garlic Man.   Until next year, Garlic Man!

Sister City

This is the street that part of the festival was on.  I sent a picture to M because I thought the name sounded a little familiar.

2 Sisters 2 Cities Circle

Much better!

sisterk (2)

Roast Chicken with Garlic, Lemon, and Parsley

Posted by on

Roast Chicken with Garlic, Lemon, and Parsley

I recently tried this recipe for roast chicken with garlic, lemon, and parsley and I just had to share it on 2S2C.  My husband’s Aunt N gave me this recipe a few years ago and I had filed it in the chicken section of my recipe binder.  Last week, I was looking to make a dinner recipe for someone who recently had a baby and I wanted to be able to serve our family the same dinner that evening.  This roast chicken recipe actually calls for two whole chickens so I figured it would work out well.

The chicken turned out really delicious.  I highly recommend starting off with a higher-quality whole chicken, such as Bell & Evans.  While they are definitely a bit more pricey than standard grocery store whole chickens, we could really taste the difference in the quality of the meat.  The garlic, lemon, and parsley marinade also added the perfect punch of flavor as well.

The original recipe for this chicken is from the Hamersley’s Bistro in Boston’s South End.  I read a story that they have been serving this chicken on the menu for over twenty years and no matter what placement it gets on the menu, it sells out almost every night.  When we lived in the city, we always walked by this restaurant and I have no idea why we never went.  Now I am definitely intrigued and I want to pay it a visit (although now I can always make this chicken at home!)

I ended up serving this with garlic rice pilaf and a mixed green salad with walnuts, crumbled goat cheese, and dried cherries (which is just a different variation of toppings used in the apple, walnut, and blue cheese salad.)  Both of these recipes are quite easily doubled if you are looking to make a full dinner for your family and share with another.

roast chicken

Print
Roast Chicken with Garlic, Lemon, and Parsley
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • 1 bunch fresh Italian parsley, leaves picked off and stems discarded
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 3 shallots
  • 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
  • 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 whole chickens (I prefer Bell & Evans brand), 4 pounds each
Instructions
  1. To prepare the marinade, place parsley, garlic, shallots, mustard, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon in food processor and process until smooth. Meanwhile, remove chicken from packaging, remove giblets, and blot dry with paper towels. Place chickens side by side on a rack within a roasting pan. (Make sure your roasting pan is large enough for there to be some space between the two chickens so air can circulate. Otherwise, you may need to use two pans.) Rub the marinade all over the chickens and cover the chickens with a layer of plastic wrap. Allow to marinade 2-24 hours.
  2. Once chicken is done marinating, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook chickens for approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours. Remove chicken from oven and allow to cool once it reaches 165 degrees F in the thickest part of the thigh. Cooking time can vary greatly from oven to oven- I highly recommend investing in a good-quality thermometer to ensure that the chicken reaches the proper temperature. Allow chicken to cool for approximately 20 minutes before carving.

Source: Adapted from Bistro Cooking at Home by Gordon Hamersley

sister m signature

Garlic Rice Pilaf

Posted by on

I wanted to share with you the best recipe for rice ever.  Not that I have too many recipes for rice…  I usually just cook plain white, basmati, or jasmine rice and throw in some fresh herbs or scallions.  When I make rice pilaf, I always made the box mix.  However, after making this garlic rice pilaf recipe, it will be very hard to return to the pilaf box mix.

Even the cow likes this recipe!

It’s kind of a lot of steps, considering that’s it rice.  It takes a long time to make as well.  I would not go starting this recipe at 7pm and hope to eat at a reasonable hour.  If I have the time to make it, I make a double-batch of the garlic rice pilaf so we can reheat it as a side dish throughout the week.  It especially makes a great side dish for chicken recipes.  Anyway, if you are a pilaf lover, I really think you should consider making this recipe.  You won’t be sorry!

Print
Garlic Rice Pilaf
Author: 
Recipe type: Side Dish
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp. butter
  • 3 cloves garlic, pressed
  • 1 cup long-grain white rice
  • 2½ cups chicken broth, divided
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp. pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375° F. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and rice to the pan and cook until both are golden brown, usually about 3-4 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of the chicken broth, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Pour the rice mixture into the casserole dish, cover, and bake for 25 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1½ cups chicken broth and bake, covered, for another 45 minutes.

Source: Slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats

Do you eat rice as a side dish with dinner?  What is your usual way to prepare it?

 

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...