Easily Mince Garlic Without a Press (And Without a Mess)

http://www.ahealthysliceoflife.com/a-night-in-chef-alyssas-kitchen/ Photo by: A Healthy Slice of Life

One of my least favorite kitchen tasks is probably mincing garlic, so up until now I’ve often used the old garlic press when anything tiny was required, but ugh, what a pain that thing is to clean! I’m also scolded often for forgetting to clean the press right away resulting in someone else having to look after my dried garlic remnants (whoops.) So I’m going to share this trick I’ve learned that’s literally changed my whole garlic experience; and it all starts with a little tool called the microplane. Basically the reason for mincing garlic is to incorporate and distribute the flavor evenly throughout a dish, but there’s a better way to do this than mincing or pressing it. To add ‘minced’ garlic in seconds and with minimal mess, simply grate you fresh cloves using a microplane (you know, that tool you use for zesting and grating nutmeg.) Give it a whack over your dish and all the garlic goodness will fall into your culinary concoction with minimal effort. If you forget to wash the microplane off you’ll be scolded relentlessly, so wash it off right away and clean up is a breeze.