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

“A nickel will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat.”

Old New York Proverb

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.

Bonus!

Garlic is considered to be a strong vampire repellent so, depending where you live, this post 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 and basic vinaigrette recipe here plus lots of good ideas. Add whichever garlic you fancy and have available and 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 – hummus recipe and suggestions here.
~   Risotto
~   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. 
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 Maggie and I had 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! We’ve grown up a bit since then.

See here for more on wild garlic 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 cloves with twice their 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 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.

~   Thai Crispy Garlic. Slice peeled 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 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 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 black garlic even if it’s not an easy thing to do, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Enjoy!

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