Retired track coach turns attention to gardening
The guru of garlic
Story and photo by POLLY KOLSTAD For the Tribune
In Branch Brady’s plentiful hillside gardens, live 300 garlic plants. Recently harvested after flourishing in richly composted soil for a year, fat cloves will soon go back in the ground for another season.
The retired C.M. Russell High track coach has grown garlic for 15 years after Bob Miller, a CMR shop teacher, gave him a few seed heads to plant. He also purchased five bulbs from Jim Bundi at the Great Falls Farmers Market.
Each year, he replants five of the largest bulbs.
He has two varieties — Bundi’s white, a hardneck or corkscrew version that turns as it grows and a red heirloom he got from another garlic hobbyist, Ray Heffern.
“I just have fun with it; I’m not a garlic expert,” Brady said. “I like to grow it and give it away.”
Garlic needs sun and well-drained soil. Planted in the fall, it comes up in the spring. As it grows, it sprouts green stalks that appear like iris leaves. From these stalks, a green bloom emerges that must be plucked to promote the growth back in the underground bulb. The green bloom has a mild garlic flavor and can be used in salads and soups. In these climes, garlic is ready to be dug up in July and August.
Garlic is usually milder soon after it is pulled from the ground because the chemistry within the garlic evolves during the year. September is the best time to buy garlic because it recently has been harvested.
Once it’s pulled, garlic slowly dehydrates in a natural drying-down process that takes months. As it loses its moisture, it slowly shrinks, and the flavor begins to condense and continues to intensify as long as it is stored at room temperature.
You know you have fresh garlic when the skin clings desperately to the clove when you try to peel it. If at any point during this process you slice and dry it, it will retain whatever flavor it had at that point.
Its shelf life at room temperature at about 50 percent humidity runs from four to 10 months or longer, depending on the variety and the health and condition of the garlic.
Garlic keepers, covered ceramic pots with holes for circulation, provide the cool, dark conditions in which garlic bulbs keep best. Never store garlic in oil, even while refrigerated as is sometimes recommended, because botulism can result. Commercial preparations of garlic in oil have been treated to prevent botulism.
Bundi Gardens plants 6,000 garlic bulbs each year, which were harvested recently. They have 12 varieties, available at 4410 10th Ave. N. and at the Farmers Market. Their garlic is priced by weight, both by the braid and by the bulb.
SHERRY’S ROASTED GARLIC
Garlic becomes rather sweet when roasted and may be squeezed out of the cloves and added to olive oil and balsamic vinegar to spread on French or Italian bread. It’s sometimes referred to as Italian butter.
To roast garlic, preheat oven to 350°. Take one (or more) garlic head and snip the top to level. Place in tin foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Make a tent by bringing sides of foil over garlic and twist to close. Roast until tender, 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and squeeze out the garlic paste from each clove.
GARLIC CHEESE BREAD
½ pound grated cheddar
1 ounce grated Parmesan
1 cube butter, softened
1 clove garlic chopped
½ tsp. paprika
Dash of Tabasco sauce
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 loaf French bread, sliced ½ inch thick
Preheat broiler. Line jellyroll pans with foil.
Mix together first seven ingredients. Spread cheese mixture on bread slices and sprinkle with a little paprika. Place on prepared pan. Broil until very browned and bubbly.
GARLIC SMASHED POTATOES
2 pounds unpeeled new baby red potatoes, halved if large
6 cloves garlic, halved
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. heavy cream
¼ cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Þ cup chopped chives
2 tbsp. bacon bits
Gently boil potatoes and garlic in salted water until tender. Drain. Using the back of a large spoon, smash each potato once so the pieces are large and chunky. Add butter, cream, chicken stock, salt and pepper. Stir gently to combine. Fold in chives and bacon bits. Serve hot. Four servings.
ROSEMARY–SCENTED PORK LOIN STUFFED WITH ROASTED GARLIC AND APPLES WITH PORT WINE PAN SAUCE
3 tbsp. olive oil
16 to 18 whole peeled garlic cloves, plus 2 tbsp. minced cloves (about 1½ heads)
1 whole boneless pork loin, 4 pounds, patted dry, at room temperature
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tbsp. minced fresh rosemary, divided
2 cups peeled, chopped, apples
Heavy kitchen string or twine
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. apple jelly
¼ cup port wine
½ cup chicken broth
2 tsp. cornstarch
Adjust oven rack to uppermiddle position and heat oven to 250°. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add whole garlic cloves and cook, stirring occasionally until soft and golden, about five minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon; reserve oil.
Turn pork loin fat-side down. Slit lengthwise, almost but not quite all the way through to form a long pocket, leaving a ½-inch border of unslit meat at each end. Brush cavity with some of the reserved garlic cooking oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and 1 tbsp. of the rosemary. Line cavity with sauteed garlic and apples. Tie loin together with twine or string at 1½ inch intervals.
Brush with remaining oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Set roast, fat side up, on a large, jellyroll pan. Warm ¼ cup apple jelly along with the minced garlic and remaining rosemary and brush mixture onto meat.
Roast until a meat thermometer stuck into the center registers 125° to 130°, about 1½ hours. Remove from oven; raise oven temperature to 400°. Brush loin with pan drippings, return to oven and continue to roast until the loin is golden brown and a meat thermometer stuck into the center registers 155° to 160°, about 20 minutes longer. For more attractive coloring, broil until spotty brown, three to five minutes.
Let roast rest 15 to 20 minutes; transfer to a carving board. Stir juices around pan to loosen brown bits.
Pour through a strainer into a small pan. Stir in port, chicken broth and remaining 2 tbsp. jelly. Bring to a simmer. Mix cornstarch with a couple of tablespoons of cold water; whisk into sauce. Simmer until lightly thickened. Slice pork and spoon sauce over.
Serves six to eight.
I just have fun with it. I’m not a garlic expert.
I like to grow it and give it away.
— Branch Brady, gardener
Branch Brady grows two types of garlic each season and gives most of it away.
The guru of garlic
Story and photo by POLLY KOLSTAD For the Tribune
In Branch Brady’s plentiful hillside gardens, live 300 garlic plants. Recently harvested after flourishing in richly composted soil for a year, fat cloves will soon go back in the ground for another season.
The retired C.M. Russell High track coach has grown garlic for 15 years after Bob Miller, a CMR shop teacher, gave him a few seed heads to plant. He also purchased five bulbs from Jim Bundi at the Great Falls Farmers Market.
Each year, he replants five of the largest bulbs.
He has two varieties — Bundi’s white, a hardneck or corkscrew version that turns as it grows and a red heirloom he got from another garlic hobbyist, Ray Heffern.
“I just have fun with it; I’m not a garlic expert,” Brady said. “I like to grow it and give it away.”
Garlic needs sun and well-drained soil. Planted in the fall, it comes up in the spring. As it grows, it sprouts green stalks that appear like iris leaves. From these stalks, a green bloom emerges that must be plucked to promote the growth back in the underground bulb. The green bloom has a mild garlic flavor and can be used in salads and soups. In these climes, garlic is ready to be dug up in July and August.
Garlic is usually milder soon after it is pulled from the ground because the chemistry within the garlic evolves during the year. September is the best time to buy garlic because it recently has been harvested.
Once it’s pulled, garlic slowly dehydrates in a natural drying-down process that takes months. As it loses its moisture, it slowly shrinks, and the flavor begins to condense and continues to intensify as long as it is stored at room temperature.
You know you have fresh garlic when the skin clings desperately to the clove when you try to peel it. If at any point during this process you slice and dry it, it will retain whatever flavor it had at that point.
Its shelf life at room temperature at about 50 percent humidity runs from four to 10 months or longer, depending on the variety and the health and condition of the garlic.
Garlic keepers, covered ceramic pots with holes for circulation, provide the cool, dark conditions in which garlic bulbs keep best. Never store garlic in oil, even while refrigerated as is sometimes recommended, because botulism can result. Commercial preparations of garlic in oil have been treated to prevent botulism.
Bundi Gardens plants 6,000 garlic bulbs each year, which were harvested recently. They have 12 varieties, available at 4410 10th Ave. N. and at the Farmers Market. Their garlic is priced by weight, both by the braid and by the bulb.
SHERRY’S ROASTED GARLIC
Garlic becomes rather sweet when roasted and may be squeezed out of the cloves and added to olive oil and balsamic vinegar to spread on French or Italian bread. It’s sometimes referred to as Italian butter.
To roast garlic, preheat oven to 350°. Take one (or more) garlic head and snip the top to level. Place in tin foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Make a tent by bringing sides of foil over garlic and twist to close. Roast until tender, 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and squeeze out the garlic paste from each clove.
GARLIC CHEESE BREAD
½ pound grated cheddar
1 ounce grated Parmesan
1 cube butter, softened
1 clove garlic chopped
½ tsp. paprika
Dash of Tabasco sauce
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 loaf French bread, sliced ½ inch thick
Preheat broiler. Line jellyroll pans with foil.
Mix together first seven ingredients. Spread cheese mixture on bread slices and sprinkle with a little paprika. Place on prepared pan. Broil until very browned and bubbly.
GARLIC SMASHED POTATOES
2 pounds unpeeled new baby red potatoes, halved if large
6 cloves garlic, halved
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. heavy cream
¼ cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Þ cup chopped chives
2 tbsp. bacon bits
Gently boil potatoes and garlic in salted water until tender. Drain. Using the back of a large spoon, smash each potato once so the pieces are large and chunky. Add butter, cream, chicken stock, salt and pepper. Stir gently to combine. Fold in chives and bacon bits. Serve hot. Four servings.
ROSEMARY–SCENTED PORK LOIN STUFFED WITH ROASTED GARLIC AND APPLES WITH PORT WINE PAN SAUCE
3 tbsp. olive oil
16 to 18 whole peeled garlic cloves, plus 2 tbsp. minced cloves (about 1½ heads)
1 whole boneless pork loin, 4 pounds, patted dry, at room temperature
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tbsp. minced fresh rosemary, divided
2 cups peeled, chopped, apples
Heavy kitchen string or twine
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. apple jelly
¼ cup port wine
½ cup chicken broth
2 tsp. cornstarch
Adjust oven rack to uppermiddle position and heat oven to 250°. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add whole garlic cloves and cook, stirring occasionally until soft and golden, about five minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon; reserve oil.
Turn pork loin fat-side down. Slit lengthwise, almost but not quite all the way through to form a long pocket, leaving a ½-inch border of unslit meat at each end. Brush cavity with some of the reserved garlic cooking oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and 1 tbsp. of the rosemary. Line cavity with sauteed garlic and apples. Tie loin together with twine or string at 1½ inch intervals.
Brush with remaining oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Set roast, fat side up, on a large, jellyroll pan. Warm ¼ cup apple jelly along with the minced garlic and remaining rosemary and brush mixture onto meat.
Roast until a meat thermometer stuck into the center registers 125° to 130°, about 1½ hours. Remove from oven; raise oven temperature to 400°. Brush loin with pan drippings, return to oven and continue to roast until the loin is golden brown and a meat thermometer stuck into the center registers 155° to 160°, about 20 minutes longer. For more attractive coloring, broil until spotty brown, three to five minutes.
Let roast rest 15 to 20 minutes; transfer to a carving board. Stir juices around pan to loosen brown bits.
Pour through a strainer into a small pan. Stir in port, chicken broth and remaining 2 tbsp. jelly. Bring to a simmer. Mix cornstarch with a couple of tablespoons of cold water; whisk into sauce. Simmer until lightly thickened. Slice pork and spoon sauce over.
Serves six to eight.
I just have fun with it. I’m not a garlic expert.
I like to grow it and give it away.
— Branch Brady, gardener
Branch Brady grows two types of garlic each season and gives most of it away.
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