A collaboration between Andrew Schloss and Cookthink, the Sunday Dinners project is designed to help busy people cook more at home. Each week, we show you how spin the leftovers from a leisurely weekend meal into a slew of brand new, easy weeknight dinners. (For more on this, read Andy’s introduction to the project.)

The power of garlic is in the air. The more finely chopped garlic is, the more its flavorful molecules are released into vapors, giving garlic its characteristic pungency. That is why a clove of garlic reveals barely a hint of itself when simmered whole in a stew or broth, but an equal amount can be downright overwhelming when minced and sautéed.

The other factor that intensifies garlic flavor in the early stages of cooking is the liquid in which it is heated. The flavor of garlic is transferred through fats. Although there is a trace of natural oil in garlic, the aroma is greatly intensified by adding a bit of oil to the pan in which garlic is cooking. That is why the powerhouse aroma of browned garlic has little in common with the delicate sweetness of garlic simmered in liquid.  As little as 1/8 teaspoon of oil is enough to intensify the flavor of garlic many fold.

When garlic is cooked without fat, as is the case when it is roasted, its sugars emerge, giving the garlic a mildly fragrant sweetness in place of its familiar pungent punch. Roasted garlic is so mild that it can be eaten by the spoonful, spread shamelessly on bread or plopped atop a baked potato. By adding some extra virgin olive oil to the roasted garlic you complement the natural sweetness with some garlicky aroma and a fruity fragrance of the oil.

It is the nuance of roasted garlic which permeates this week’s menus. There’s enough of it in the braised sirloin tip tonight to actually thicken the sauce. Sirloin tip comes from the bottom part of the sirloin that curves around towards the flank. It is very flavorful, and for a tasty cut, it is pretty tender. The cut goes by lots of other names: tri-tip, bottom sirloin butt flap, and ball tip among them. Use any one in this recipe, or any cut of beef that is good for stews and braised dishes.

Later in the week, your bounty of roasted garlic will flavor bourride, a truly elegant aioli-infused braised fish dish from the Languedoc region of France. On another night, the garlic will glaze the crackled skin of a honey-garlic roast chicken.

The weeknight ten-minute beef and noodle stir-fry served over pasta gets its protein from Sunday’s beef and its flavor from Sunday’s fennel and orange side dish. The tabbouleh that you served with the beef makes short work of a quick casual pita pocket meal on any night when time is tight and hungry bellies await.

Sunday Dinner Recipes:

Recipe: Braised Sirloin Tips With Roasted Garlic (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Bulgur With Tomatoes (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Braised Fennel With Olives And Orange (Sunday Dinners)

Weekday Spin-Off Dinners:

Recipe: Roasted Garlic Chicken With Honey And Balsamic Vinegar (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Quick Bourride (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Beef And Artichoke Provencale (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Pita Sandwich With Tuna And Chickpeas (Sunday Dinners)