Black Garlic, an Invitation and a Show Off!

~  Menu  ~

Black Garlic Risotto with Chestnut Mushrooms

Secret Red Wine

A few Strawberries from the Garden

Recently I have been seeing black garlic mentioned all over the place so when I spotted some in Tesco I bought it, obviously.

At first it seemed a bit scary – garlic that has been kept/aged/fermented for a year and, consequently has gone black, see here for details and when they say “black garlic” they mean seriously black, not blackish.

The garlic is soft and squidgy and a bit daunting but a tentative nibble revealed that there is nothing to be scared of, it is utterly delicious!!  The garlic flavour is mellowed, sweet and caramelised and I am sure it would go really well with blue cheese and black pepper.  However, curses, no blue cheese – so I made a bit of risotto and it was fab.

Black Garlic Risotto – one serving

1 tbsp olive oil

2 shallots finely chopped

2 (or 3 or 4) black garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

small knob (excuse me!) of butter

100g risotto rice

40 ml red wine

about 300 ml simmering vegetable stock

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Parmesan cheese

Why not pin this for
future reference?

~   Cook the shallots gently in the olive oil till they are translucent.

~   Stir in the garlic and the butter.

~   When the butter has melted add the rice and stir till thoroughly coated with buttery goo.

~   Add the wine and cook, stirring, over medium heat till it has all disappeared (not really – it’s in the rice!).

~   Gradually add the hot stock a little at a time and cook, stirring continuously, till there is very little left then add some more.  Continue doing this till the rice is tender but with a little bite and is coated with an unctuous sauce. 

~   Grate in plenty of parmesan then taste and season.  I added my lovely smoked black pepper from Nature Kitchen but just freshly ground black pepper would be good too.

~  For even more luxuriousness stir in a little more butter.

Having some leftover chestnut mushrooms languishing in the fridge I sautéed a few and added them to the finished dish.

The risotto was gently infused with a sweet garlickiness, I only used 2 cloves of the black stuff but next time I think I shall use more and in bigger lumps so as to occasionally I get a solid hit of it. 

I'm sure you are going to read a lot more about this fantastic ingredient if you follow my blog!

In Other News ...

Here's the show off - lovely Vegetarian Living magazine have published another one of my articles.  This is about Mrs. Beeton – I have an old copy of my grandmother’s and got reading the vegetarian section - lots of weird stuff but also some surprisingly good ideas.         

You’ll have to read the magazine for details, I made some really gorgeous “porridge scones” based on an original idea by Mrs. B.