Many years ago, when Big Boy was just a little tacker, Diana and I would sit by the pool and chat while our sons had their weekly swimming lessons. I’m very blessed, because my wise and generous friend now grows the best organic garlic I’ve ever tasted, and I get first dibs when her crops are ready for sale!
Last night, Di gave us some of her new season “wet” garlic to experiment with. Almost all garlic that we buy in stores is “dry” – the bulbs are hung and allowed to mature after harvesting, resulting in long lasting, papery heads with individually wrapped cloves.
By contrast, wet garlic is pulled from the soil before the cloves are fully formed, much milder in flavour, and similar in texture to a leek. The bulbs are usually still attached to their long green foliage (scapes).
Here it is sliced – you can see how the cloves will eventually form…
I turned the stems into garlic scape pesto by simply blitzing them in the food processor with olive oil, pine nuts and grated parmesan cheese.
Pete used the bulb and a small piece of scape to make sourdough garlic bread – the milder flavour meant he could really pile on the garlic without it becoming overpowering.
The bread was topped with gourmet mushrooms which had been panfried in butter, olive oil, sliced wet garlic and a dash of 40 year old port.
A wonderful meal, and somewhat surprisingly, we don’t all reek of garlic this morning. Many thanks, Di!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 