Simple Supper: Fresh Garlic, Mushroom & Chicken Pasta

Sometimes inspiration comes to you at work. My lovely coworker who is big into local eating (and gardening) gave me a bag of fresh & cured garlic…straight from her garden! This is the first time I have ever cooked with fresh garlic and I was excited to use it. What to do…what to do…

I’m sorry to say that I didn’t take a picture of the head of garlic – I still have a few so maybe I will update this post with some snaps. Some key differences: the cloves are like…juicy! And crispy! And crunch! There’s also a middle “root” that runs in the middle of the head of garlic. There are also fewer cloves per head. You know how in a traditional store-bought head of garlic, there are like 2-3 layers of cloves? There’s really just one layer around that middle core root.

And yes – the flavour is amazing!

I decided to do a rich pasta sauce featuring chicken thighs and porcini mushrooms. I cut up four chicken thighs and browned them, then added the garlic and mushrooms. Sauteed until the mushrooms released their liquid & evaporated and became nice and brown (this took a while – patience!).

I then finished it with a generous “splash” of cream and a good grate of parmesean cheese. Served on brown rice/corn/quinoa pasta with a side of steamed broccoli. Total time? 40 min. When you have a plan – dinner can come together in a flash!