Fresh, Wild, Roasted, Smoked or Black Garlic ~ delicious ways to use all of them!

Today is another one of those strange “national days” – this time the nation is the USA and the food item is garlic so, even though I am  Brit, I thought I’d write appropriately.

As one would expect I often cook with garlic, although not for my real man of course! This wonderful stuff, however, not only adds an important nuance to so many dishes, it is also a fantastic flavour (or, in fact several different fantastic flavours) in its own right which deserve to be showcased in our cooking.

Garlic Bonus!

Garlic is considered to be a strong vampire repellent so, depending where you live, this could be useful.

The 5 forms of garlic I shall be writing about today and referred to in the title of this post are – fresh, roasted, smoked, wild and black. They are all wonderful but in different ways so here are some ideas, tips and links to help you make the most of them. 

Firstly, in most cases, all these garlics are interchangeable; they all work well in …

~   Mayonnaise – homemade or bought in.
~   Salad dressings –vinaigrette recipe here and replace the fresh garlic with other forms of garlic depending what you are serving it with. These vinaigrettes also make good marinades and dipping sauces.

~   Mashed potato – with the possible exception of black garlic which is bit too sweet, I think.

~   Add to hummus and similar bean dips – basic hummus recipe and suggestions here.
~   Risotto – see here for Black Garlic Risotto recipe.
~   Pesto
~   Garlic butters and, thereafter, various forms of garlic bread, all gorgeous!
~   Rich, creamy and very easy Alfredo Sauce to use on pasta and other things too.
~   Soup – lots of recipes in my Soup Recipe Cookbook plus all the info you need to create your own recipes.
~   Garlic oils (IMPORTANT – either use immediately or freeze as they can cause botulism otherwise) – and hence croutons, drizzles on soup, dipping oils etc.

So I’m starting with wild garlic as the season is upon us and it’s time to get gathering!

Wild Garlic

Here’s a strange and irritating thing – for 14 years my sister and I ran a restaurant in Cornwall and for 14 springs we drove past, frequently, a large and rampant patch of wild garlic, remarked on the fragrance and never, ever thought of picking and using the stuff!

I have written a lot about this already – my most useful wild garlic post, I think, is this one with instructions and lots of ideas here. 

Fresh Garlic

There are, of course a myriad (and then some) things to do with fresh garlic, here are a few very simple ideas …

~   If you have a lot of garlic freeze some separated into cloves or, even better, purée peeled garlic with twice its volume of oil and then freeze. The wonder of this is that once frozen it is still soft enough to scrape off a little when needed. Do not store garlic in oil in the fridge for any longer that a few days or you might get botulism, best to freeze it asap.
~   Put peeled garlic cloves into a bottle of Vodka (I’m afraid you will probably have to drink a little Vodka fist to make room) and keep it in the freezer. Use the resulting Garlic Vodka in sauces, Bloody Marys or peculiar Martinis.
~   Slice peeled garlic cloves very, very thinly and uniformly, separate the slices and fry in a couple of centimetres of hot oil (160ºC/325°F) to light golden. This should take about 5 minutes, adjust the heat if they are going too fast. Drain well, cool well and then store for up to a week (and probably  lot longer!) in an airtight container. These are a traditional garnish in Thailand but are good sprinkled on all sorts of dishes.

Roasted Garlic

Roasting garlic makes it soft, buttery, sweet, mellow and also makes the house smell gorgeous. In fact it’s one of those smells, like baking bread or good coffee that tends to beguile people. Read here for how to roast garlic and make a nice smell together with lots of ideas for using the lovely stuff.

  

Smoked Garlic

I have actually smoked garlic myself and it’s not difficult if you are into smoking but it is easier still to buy it from your nearest interesting food shop.

Use smoked garlic wherever you would use un-smoked garlic but it is particularly good with potatoes, cheddar and strong beefy dishes.

Black Garlic

This is the best food “discovery” I have made in … years and years! It is wonderful stuff and I never expected a whole new ingredient at my age!

It is somewhat difficult to get hold of, for a while Tesco stocked it but usually I have it delivered from Amazon. Recently I learned that Sainsbury’s stock it but I don’t know if it is every store. I urge you, however, to get yourself some even if it’s not an easy thing to do, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I have written a lot about this too, see …

~  Black Garlic
~  How to Use Black Garlic
~  “The latest ‘it’ ingredient in chefs’ kitchens”

Enjoy!

A Bit of Summer in the Fridge

On Wednesday 1^stMay (you probably remember it; this year’s summer) I picked some wild garlic and when I got it home washed it and puréed the leaves in my mini food processor together with some soft salted butter. See here for lots of delicious flavoured butter ideas.

I often find that the best way to clean out the food processor is to firstly wipe it out with something edible before washing it.  So having a couple of small crusts (a bit of ciabatta and a tiny crust of multigrain) I made some croutons – tear up bread, wipe out processor with it, spread on baking tray and, next time oven is on, bake till crisp and golden – good with soups, salads or as a nibble. More information on making croutons here.

I put the Wild Garlic Butter in the fridge and waited for inspiration.  So far this is what I have used it for …

Spicy Noodles with Salmon and Wild Garlic

I had a bit of salmon skeleton in the freezer.  You might think this is odd but we bought about half a salmon from which I cut some meal sized pieces and froze the remains for later use.  I just poached the skeleton for a few minutes and then carefully removed all the flesh from the bones – more than enough for me, in fact I finished it on toast the next day!  Economical or what!

I also had a few cooked noodles in the fridge so made myself a lovely sudden lunch. 

I just melted some wild garlic butter and tossed in the noodles and salmon till hot, added a squeeze of lemon and finished with an extra knob of garlic butter to keep my cholesterol up!

A Wild Garlic Hasselback Potato

I think I cooked hasselback potatoes about 30 years ago but if I did the details escape me.  A friend jogged my memory by putting a picture of one on FB so I thought I’d have a go and I have to come clean and say … it was not quite as nice as a jacket potato, in my opinion.  This is not to say that it was at all unpleasant, mind you.

~   Preheat oven to 400ºF/200ºC/180C fan/gas 6 

~   Wash a handsome baking potato and cut into thin slices BUT NOT ALL THE WAY THROUGH.  Leave them attached by about 10mm at the bottom.

~   Rub with olive oil, season and bake for about 30 minutes. 

~   Brush with Wild Garlic Butter and continue to cook till tender and crisp which could take up to another 30 minutes depending on the size of the potato.

I ate mine with salad, more wild garlic butter and a little freshly shredded Parmesan.

Crevettes in Lemon Ramsons Butter

We bought some reduced cooked crevettes yesterday and I have just eaten them warmed through in said butter together with a squeeze of lemon.  Yummy over rice.

‘Oss ‘Oss Wee ‘Oss

Yesterday I was lucky enough to go to ‘Obby ‘Oss in Padstow and it was utterly perfect weather (which was a surprise).

‘Obby ‘Oss is a strange and ancient pagan festival peculiar to Padstow celebrating May Day. My friend Carol lives in Padstow and we walked down through the woods into the town.

Even from there we could hear the traditional May Day Song which starts …

Unite and unite and let us all unite,

For summer is acome unto day,

And whither we are going we will all unite,

In the merry morning of May. 

Arise up Mr. ….. I know you well afine, 

For summer is acome unto day, 

You have a shilling in your purse and I wish it were in mine, 

In the merry morning of May

… and is sung round the town to get everyone (who isn’t already up – exciting times) awake and celebrating. This day is HUGE in Padstow and whilst the streets are packed it is amazingly uncommercial – just a wonderful celebration of summer.

This music is played continuously throughout the day and there is much spontaneous dancing in the streets.

This is the red ‘oss (‘obby ‘oss, of course, means hobby horse but as you can see there is no resemblance) which is the traditional old ‘oss, there is also a blue peace ‘oss who came into being after the First World War.

Anyhoo they dance to the rhythmic music around the steep streets and harbour of lovely old Padstow being constantly teased by a dancing “teaser”.

Beware of getting too close to the ‘oss because if he catches you under his skirts you will be pregnant within the year (I am not sure in these days of equality and PC if this also applies to boys) – fair enough this is a fertility rite!

That’s enough about ‘obby ‘osses.

Carol and I followed the red ‘oss for a while, sometimes it must get tired because occasionally the singers change pace, sing a slow song and the ‘oss slumps into a little sleep on the ground for a few minutes – roused by a hearty shout. 

 We then retired to Carol’s daughter Wendy’s lovely little Bed and Breakfast in the heart of the town, Cyntwell

Here we sat out in the sun eating crab sarnies, gorgeous homemade chocky cake and drinking some refreshing bevvies.

On the way back through the woods I picked wild garlic and it is my intention this year to make Wild Garlic Butter which I shall then use in a variety of ways.

In other news …

~ I have a red nose.
~ They must love a party in Padstow, I see that it was a year ago today that I saw my first Christmas advert.

Wild Garlic ~ Calloo, Callay!

Pin for when you find some wild garlic!

Wild garlic is frequently known as ramsons, formally as allium ursinum and occasionally and sometimes rather rudely as bear’s garlic, jack-by-hedge, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, devil’s garlic, stinking Jenny and gypsy’s onions.  Some of these names don’t do it justice because It Is Yummy with a wonderful kind of a mild garlic-chive taste. 

Last year was the first time I had ever picked wild garlic and I was ecstatic!  Lovely, fresh, delicious and free food!  I have been looking forward to this year’s crop ever since and yesterday picked a carrier bag full.  

Freezing Wild Garlic

I stemmed and washed and dried the lot and then chopped it in my tiny food processor together with a thin drizzle of olive oil to help it.  I spooned the result into an ice cube tray and froze it tightly wrapped to stop other things in the freezer tasting garlicky.  Scroll down to the end of the post on ideas for using frozen wild garlic.

Wild Garlic Pesto 

I had too many chopped leaves for the ice cube tray so added walnuts and grated Gran Padano (as per my wild garlic pesto recipe) to the processor together with enough oil to make Wild Garlic Pesto.  I put the pesto in a clean jar,  topped it up with copious amounts of olive oil to keep the air out and put it in the fridge.  Scroll down to the end of the post on ideas for using wild garlic pesto.

Wild Garlic Vinaigrette

I couldn’t get every scrap of the precious stuff out of the food processor and you know how I hate waste so I added a spoonful of cider vinegar, a pinch of sugar plus salt and pepper and some more olive oil and made – Wild Garlic Vinaigrette (see here for lots more easy vinaigrette recipes). I poured this into a jug to dress my salad for dinner.

And so on …

The food processor still looked a little unfinished so, still hating waste, I wiped it out with a piece of salmon which was intended for my dinner.

The resulting meal tasted excellent but was strangely out of focus so doesn’t deserve to be seen!

And the leftovers?

Easy peasy, I munged together leftover salmon from my dinner last night, leftover mashed potato from my menfolks’ dinner last night and a teaspoonful of my Wild Garlic Pesto. I formed an admittedly large fishcake, pressed it onto a plate of panko, shallow fried till crisp and went for it.

How to use Fresh Wild Garlic …

~ Add the leaves and flowers to salads.

~ Garnish dishes with the flowers – they are very pretty!
~ Sprinkle chopped leaves onto all sorts of dishes.
~ Add to omelettes and scrambled eggs.
~ Keep the flowers in a vase on the kitchen windowsill amongst all the rest of the paraphernalia. Don’t worry, they don’t make a smell!

How to Use Frozen Wild Garlic …

~ Stir into soups and sauces, 

~ Add a cube when deglazing a pan to make a quick sauce for meat or fish.
~ Stir into polenta for the last few minutes of cooking.
~ Mash into potatoes.
~ Stir into risotto.

How to Use Wild Garlic Pesto …

~ Stir into mayonnaise.
~ Whisk in vinegar or lemon juice and more oil to make a great salad dressing.
~ Rub onto meat and fish as a marinade and leave a few hours before cooking.
~ Stir into Alfredo Sauce for a lovely pasta dish.
~ Just toss with freshly pasta for a yummy simple dish.
~ Drizzle over sliced tomatoes.
~ Garnish soup with a spoonful or a drizzle.
~ Spread into sandwiches and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches 

See Wild Garlic & Walnut Pesto here.

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