Ever tried Black Garlic? Here's some good ideas to get you started!

If you have been concentrating you will remember that I was recently delighted; the reason being that I had discovered black garlic. Well I have just been delighted again by trying a blue cheese, Saint Agur, that for some inexplicable reason I have never tasted before.  Yummeeeeee!  And so to a recent lunch for which I first made myself some ...

Black Garlic Oil

6 cloves of black garlic

60 ml olive oil

~    Process the two together!

That’s pretty well it.  So far I have tried black garlic in two slightly different forms; a whole black garlic bulb and also as separated cloves in a little tub.  I don’t know why but the separated cloves are firmer than those still attached to the bulb, this being the case the former are better for making this oil.

Tagliatelle with Black Garlic & Blue Cheese – serves 1

A slice of great bread, coarsely crumbled

1 tbsp of black garlic oil

4 nests of tagliatelle

75g Saint Agur cheese (or any other leftover blue cheese)

another tbsp of black garlic oil

a clove or two of black garlic coarsely chopped

~   Drizzle the first tbsp of oil over the breadcrumbs and toss together.  Either dry fry till crisp and golden or bake for a few minutes in a hot oven to achieve the same end. These crisp crumbs are known as Pangrattato, read more here.

~   Chop or crumble the cheese and mix together with the chopped garlic and the second tbsp of oil.

~   Cook the tagliatelle according to instructions on the packet.

~   Set aside about 60 ml of the cooking water then drain the pasta.

~   Stir together the pasta, the blue cheese mixture and the reserved cooking water.

~   Taste and season – freshly ground black pepper is great with this – stir in some of the crisp crumbs and top the pasta with the rest.

Having made the Black Garlic Oil I was on a roll and made some other things with it …

Black Garlic Croutons 

See here for lots of useful information on croutons.

~   As a dipping oil.

~   To brush over freshly baked Focaccia.

~   Mix with a modicum of balsamic vinegar as a great salad dressing.

A few more black garlic ideas …

~  Mix a little soft butter in to the black garlic oil and make delicious garlic bread.

~   Purée together a couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise and 2 cloves of black garlic.

~   Mix black garlic together with some of the aforementioned Saint Agur and eat with hot nubbly toast and a glass of red wine.  Just typing about it makes me drool!
~   More ideas here on Pinterest ~ click on the board as if it was full sized to be taken to individual pins or the whole board.

The good black garlic people have sent me some information on their wonderful product and so here is a bit of background.   Apparently it originates from South Korea but is now made using a method, recently developed in America, which takes several weeks.  During this time the sugars and amino acids react together causing the mellow flavour and the black colour. 

Benefits of Black Garlic

In addition to its wonderful flavour black garlic offers several other benefits …

~   Despite having no additives it has a surprisingly long shelf life, the packet I have is best before sometime in 2013.

~   It doesn’t cause bad breath.

~   It is full of antioxidants which, as we all know, kill free radicals – the gits.

~   It is low fat and high in natural sugars.

~   It is easily digested, more easily than fresh garlic.

I urge you to give this stuff a try, I’m sure you won’t regret it.  

Click here for lots more Black Garlic Ideas and news about handy black garlic paste.