The Wonderful World of Black Garlic

The latest ingredient that everyone should be using is Black Garlic, and if you don’t know about it, find out about it!! I can guarantee you will not be disappointed! It’s much sweeter than normal garlic but with all of the flavour, AND doesn’t give you the dreaded bad breath, so popular you still can be. Or if you find you’re not so popular, this recipe could be a great way for you to impressJ. It has a sweet yet savoury flavour as the garlic has been fermented and dried over a 4 week period and gives you all the flavour and twice the goodness when compared with raw garlic. It is packed with double the antioxidants of normal garlic, may have cancer prevention properties and of course, it’s good for your heart. The garlic looks the pretty much the same from the outside but open it up and it has a pure black jelly like appearance, and can be eaten raw. It’s so versatile and can be used in a number of dishes which I have tried out myself. I selected this one to share with you as I felt everyone would enjoy it. Black garlic is much less pungent and acidic but still has all the flavour! It doesn’t come at a price either, you can buy it in Tesco for around £1. Black garlic was initially used a lot in Asian cuisine but finally it has hit us here in the U.K. It was very much seen as a super food, added to a number of different foods and drinks as a supplement and some have even claimed you can live longer. Really, where can you go wrong? All of this and its delicious!  If you want a recipe to impress and a great way to play around with black garlic I highly recommend this one… even if I do say so myself. It’s a great mix of fine flavours and so simple, although it may seem you have gone to a lot of effort. The black garlic makes for a great sauce in this dish as it melts ever so slightly, which really compliments the chorizo, and really, you can’t go wrong with scallops… ever! Just please don’t over cook them, and make sure you remove the muscle as it will go chewy when cooked. It’s up to you whether you prefer to keep the roe or not, but it can look quite pretty and tastes great. This recipe makes quite a striking plate as it really has a great colour contrast with the dark black sauce, red chorizo sausage and the bright scallops which pick up an orange tinge from the chorizo oil and the varied size adds a nice texture. The herbs also add a touch of colour and when placed along side the creamy cabbage it really compliments the flavours.

 I’m so glad I have finally discovered the wonders of black garlic, and now no need to order online. I really hope you feel the same about it too. You should trust me on this one as I feel it has endless possibilities!

Scallops and Chorizo with a Black Garlic Sauce

Ingredients

250g, approx, Savoy Cabbage

200ml Cream

3 Cloves White Garlic

85g Chorizo Sausage, finely diced

5 Cloves Black Garlic, peeled and very finely sliced

125g Small Queen Scallops

125g King Scallops

Juice of half a lemon

1tbsp. Sherry

1tbsp. fresh Parsley, chopped

1tbsp. fresh Chives, Chopped

Pepper, to season

1. Firstly get you cabbage onto boil and leave for about 10 minutes. You don’t want to over cook it! Mix the white garlic in the cream and leave in the fridge until needed.
2. Heat a pan with no oil and fry the chorizo for 1-2 minutes. The chorizo releases oil here and gives off a really nice colour.
3. Once the chorizo is heated through add the black garlic, scallops and heat for about 3 minutes - basically heating them through until slightly opaque, then add the lemon juice and sherry and turn up the heat for about a minute.
4. In a separate pan start warming your cream to thicken it up.
5. Drain your cabbage, mix the cream through and season well with quite a lot of pepper.
6. Add the herbs to the chorizo dish for less then a minute so they don’t wilt too much.
7. To serve, pour the chorizo and black garlic sauce onto a plate, topping with the scallops and lay alongside the cabbage.

For more information on black garlic go to: http://blackgarlic.com/