Forget-me-(k)not

GARLIC KNOTS TO SHARE... OR NOT! 

Whenever I make white bread, I usually set aside a large handful of the dough to make garlic knots. These little savoury snacks were apparently created by a pizzeria to use up scraps of pizza dough and the garlic-parsley sauce for the garlic bread.

Bits of the dough are rolled out into pencil lengths and tied into a simple knot. If I want to play around with them a little, I make a rosette (make a knot and tuck the ends into the centre; one end in the bottom, the other in the top). Lay them on a tray to proof and from tiny portions, they grow into fat twists of dough. Bake, and while still hot, dress.

Now, about the dressing. I say if you're going to eat garlic, then use a sufficient amount. The minced garlic is heated gently in oil and butter which gets rid of the rawness, but it will still have a kick.

Some people like to brush the dressing onto the knots with a pastry brush. That just gets the dressing on to one side, and I think the coating should be liberal and all over the knot. I prefer to put the freshly baked knots into a large mixing bowl, pour all the dressing on and toss everything together to mix. Leave aside for a couple of minutes to allow the bread to soak up all the dressing, tossing occasionally in between to help the process along.

And then eat the knots straight from the mixing bowl. You don't want to waste even a bit of the dressing.

Oh yeah, this gets the thumbs up!

Garlic-Parsley Dressing

This is enough to liberally dress 20 fat 6cm-long bread knots. Also good spread on toasted baguette slices.

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp minced garlic (about 3 large cloves)

2 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Salt to taste

Heat the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the minced garlic. Stir occasionally until aromatic but don't allow the garlic to brown.

Remove from heat and pour mixture into a mixing bowl. Stir in parsley and salt. Add the baked bread knots to the bowl and toss until coated with the dressing. Leave knots in the bowl for 2 minutes to soak up the dressing. Serve warm.