Garlic Paste

This is one of my favorite things to make just to have on hand. I used to buy garlic paste in a resealable tube, but then I saw someone on Food Network doing this about 7 or 8 yrs ago (I really want to say it was Rachael Ray?), so I tried it once, and I've been doing this ever since.

All you need is fresh garlic and coarse salt (nothing finer than kosher salt).

Just peel the garlic and cut the ends off (you probably don't have to cut the root ends off, but I always do). Then just keep mincing it till it's as small as you can get it.

Here's where the magic happens: Add a pinch of salt, right on top of the minced garlic. Run your knife through it some more. Lay your knife flat on top of the garlic and press down on the knife with your palm while moving it across the pile of garlic. I really hope that made sense? Just smash the ever-loving heck out of it. The salt will help smash it up like you wouldn't believe. If you feel you need to add more salt, feel free. A small pinch of salt will help tear up about 5 cloves of garlic, so that's a pretty good guideline. :)

Just keep going till it looks like this:

Click to see larger.

You can keep going if you want it even MORE fine, but this is usually fine enough for my purposes.

Throw it into ANYTHING you want to put garlic in--AWESOME in mashed potatoes! Just remember, it has some salt in it, so make sure you add it BEFORE you put any salt in your dish, and taste it before adding any additional salt. :)