Written by

C&O Trattoria-Inspired Garlic Knots

General

My friend Roy came up from L.A. to visit this past week, and we spent most of our time together eating. Hanging out with him reminded me of my favorite places to eat in L.A. when I used to live there. One of my favorite Italian restaurants to eat at served these amazing “killer garlic rolls.” They were always hot, doughy, and slathered in garlic and olive oil. I could eat an entire meal of their garlic rolls alone. Since I no longer live a short drive away from C & O, I decided to try to make some garlic rolls myself. I made garlic knots using a recipe from Gourmet‘s special Italian edition. While they were no killer garlic rolls, they definitely hit the spot. And, most importantly, they were the saving grace at last night’s dinner since I sorta put in three 1/2 cups of cream in the pasta sauce I was making instead of three 1/4 cups. I blame it on the shrimp cooking at the speed of light.





.cappellini with shrimp and extra creamy tomato sauce

Garlic Knots
Adapted from Gourmet magazine
Makes 1 dozen
2 Tbsp olive oil plus additional for greasing pan
1 tube of Pillsbury breadsticks (the original recipe calls for 2 lb pizza dough, thawed completely if frozen. The recipe also mentioned a lot of rolling out and cutting of dough that I wanted to skip, so I went the pre-cut breadstick route yielding a nice easy dozen instead of the 5 dozen the 2 lbs of pizza dough would yield)
2 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Roll out dough and cover with a clean kitchen towel (not terry cloth). Keeping remaining strips covered, gently tie each strip into a knot, pulling ends slightly to secure and arranging knots 1 inch apart in staggered rows on 1 baking sheet. Bake, switching position of sheet halfway through baking, until golden, 16 to 18 minutes total.
While knots bake, mince garlic and mash to a paste with salt, then stir together with oil in a very large bowl. Immediately after baking, toss knots in garlic oil, then sprinkle with parsley and cheese and toss to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Last modified: January 10, 2019