Recipes: Thrice-blanched garlic mayonnaise with parsley

We are so lucky in Scotland to have copious amounts of garlic grown near Nairn, at Craggie Farm, by the enterprising Allingham family (www.reallygarlicky.co.uk). Life without garlic would be unthinkable. And it is so beneficial healthwise that it is our duty to eat it on a daily basis.

While we can buy garlic year round, it is the ‘wet’ garlic, the new, young garlic that is particularly delicious. It is much gentler in taste than the year-round stuff. I have learned, though, with anything that isn’t the new growth, to blanch the cloves before use. I blanch them three times and have grown to love the much more subtle flavour that results.

I learned about blanching garlic cloves from watching a documentary on Michelin winners and in France there is a three-starred restaurant, one of whose signature dishes involves a garlic and parsley sauce where the garlic is blanched seven times. I think, for my palate, three is enough. For those who don’t understand about blanching, you put the cloves in their skins into a small saucepan, cover with cold water and bring the water to the boil, drain it off and replace with cold water, bring it to the boil again, and so on. The blanched garlic then pops out of the skin easily.

Beware frying garlic over too high a heat – it will taste bitter and can ruin a dish. Garlic frying needs gentle heat and it doesn’t need to turn colour. Gently fried chopped or sliced garlic with ginger is a wonderful taste combination that can enhance many meat, chicken, fish and vegetable dishes.

Thrice-blanched garlic mayonnaise with parsley

This mayonnaise is utterly delicious with all sorts of foods, both hot and cold.

Makes enough for 6 people

1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

1 rounded teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1 level teaspoon caster sugar

15 grinds of black pepper

2 fat garlic cloves which have been blanched 3 times, their skins removed

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1oz/28g parsley, all stalks removed before weighing

2-3 tablespoons of near-boiling water if required

Break the egg and yolk into a food processor and add the Dijon mustard, salt, sugar, black pepper and garlic. Whiz till smooth then, drop by drop initially, add the olive oil. When you have an emulsion, add the oil in a very thin, steady trickle. Lastly, add the wine vinegar and the parsley. If the mayonnaise looks a bit stiff, whiz in the near-boiling water, a spoonful at a time until you reach the consistency you require. Scrape the contents of the processor into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and store in the fridge for up to four days.

Garlic and ginger dressing

This is good spooned over grilled or baked fish or chicken

Serves 6

3 fat cloves of garlic, skinned and finely sliced

1 thumb – approximately 3in/7.5cm – root ginger, skin pared off and diced finely

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon strong soy sauce

about 15 grinds of black pepper – no need for salt, the soy sauce is enough

1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice

Put the finely sliced garlic and ginger into a saucepan with the olive oil, sesame oil and soy sauce. Over gentle to moderate heat, simmer the contents of the pan for three to four minutes. Then take the pan off the heat, add the black pepper and lemon or lime juice, and cool. This keeps in a screw-top jar in the fridge for up to five days and can be reheated before being used.

Garlic and lemon roast chicken thighs

Serves 6

12 chicken thighs

40 fat garlic cloves, in their skin

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons flaky salt and about 20 grinds of black pepper

3 lemons

Put the chicken thighs into a wide, shallow baking tin. Scatter the garlic cloves among the chicken and dribble the olive oil over the contents of the dish as evenly as you can. Scatter the salt and black pepper over all, and halve each lemon. Gently squeeze some of the juice but be sparing. Keep the lemon halves.

Bake the chicken in a moderate heat, 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4 for 1½ hours. Towards the end of this time, heat a sauté or frying pan and, when hot, sear the lemon halves cut-side down, for a couple of minutes. Serve half a seared lemon with each serving of chicken thighs and garlic cloves, and ask your guests to squeeze the garlic flesh from the skins – it pops out easily and forms a sort of paste which is delicious eaten with the chicken meat.

TOP TIP:

The smaller you cut garlic, the stronger the flavour. A chemical reaction on exposure to air produces garlic’s distinctive smell