Gorgeous green garlic

Working with The University of Sheffield

Season: Summer

We have new-season organic green garlic (aka ‘wet garlic’) going into the boxes now courtesy of Doug and the team on Regather farm and our other great local suppliers.

More mild, tender and sweet than their older dried siblings, green garlic bulbs can be sliced raw into summery dishes. Last night I did a simple, delicious salad of fennel, green garlic and tomato: a small fennel bulb, quartered and very thinly sliced; one-quarter of a green garlic bulb, very thinly sliced; a handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered; a big glug of extra virgin olive oil, juice of a lemon and half its zest; plus salt to taste. Mix everything well and let stand for at least 30 mins before eating, to let the fennel soften and the flavours mingle.

Or make a light, healthy white bean soup with green garlic and parsley – recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Alternatively, roast your green garlic. You could use the mellow garlic flesh as a toast-topper or transform it into a sauce for pasta, veg or fish as in our featured dish below: roasted green garlic with anchovy and tomato by Angela Clutton on London’s Borough Market recipe pages.

Ingredients

2 green/wet garlic bulbs

2 tbsp olive oil

4 sprigs of thyme

2 large tomatoes, peeled

1 small tin of anchovy fillets (as good-quality as you can afford - Angela Clutton recommends Ortiz brand).

Method

Heat oven to 200C/Gas6. Cut the top stem off the garlic bulbs. (Stems can be kept for stocks or soups.) Sit each bulb on a square piece of kitchen foil. Divide the oil and thyme between them, and give them a sprinkling of salt. Loosely wrap the bulbs in the foil, sit them on a roasting tray.

Roast for approximately 50 mins until the bulbs are tender. Let them cool a little before squeezing out the garlic flesh. Set aside.

Chop the tomato flesh. Set a medium frying pan over a medium heat. Add the tomato flesh and the anchovies along with all the oil in their tin. Let that cook for a few minutes, then add the roasted garlic flesh. Mix well, season with pepper (it won’t need salt with all that lovely anchovy flavour).

The sauce is ready to use - with pasta, veg or fish. It can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.