FLOWER POT KITCHEN: PRESERVED GARLIC IN OIL

22 May 2022

PRESERVED GARLIC IN OIL

I grow our own garlic all year round winter grown garlic is harvested around June and spring planted garlic around October but there comes a point where my stored garlic starts to dry out and sprout, before this happens I peel the cloves and preserve them in fragrant olive oil, this is worth the effort not only for keeping the garlic but it saves a job when cooking and believe me when I say my family loves garlic some days I will be peeling three or four whole bulbs for one meal. Check out below my nutty garlic oil dip/dressing and roasted garlic purée.

Growing Garlic

Garlic is a very forgiving plant, it grows without the need of much attention and very little watering and will happily grow on its own. I always get rust (fungus) on my garlic but I just hang on in and peel off any heavily infected leaves, it just means the bulb may be smaller than a uninfected plant.

For over winter I plant in September and harvest around June and for summer I plant in April and harvest September/October and to store I trim all the foliage off the bulb and leave to dry out in the sun for a day, then I either tie plait them on string and hang in the kitchen or store in a slated wooden crate.

Ingredients

500g peeled garlic cloves

1 ltr apple cider vinegar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 bay leaf

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 sprig tarragon (optional)

1500ml olive oil

This is a important step, for food safety. Place the garlic, salt and sugar in a deep saucepan, fill the pan with the apple cider vinegar to cover the garlic and bring to a boil, boil for three minutes, then drain off the vinegar (keep this in the fridge for making salad dressings or using on fries) and pat dry the garlic. Meanwhile sterilise your jar (see below) at the same time this is also for food safety,

How to Sterilise a Jar

Take your kilner, ball mason or jam jar and wash thoroughly, this you can do ahead of time, pre heat your oven to 150C / 320 F and pop the jars in for 10 minutes, place the lids in boiling water for 5 minutes, this will sterilise the jars and lids for food safety.

Why Food Safety ?

This is because the bacteria Clostridium Botulinum which causes Botulism can grow in preserved goods if not killed off in the process and as we’re not cooking the garlic or preserving in a pickling vinegar garlic and chilli oils are a higher risk, but don’t panic by storing your preserved garlic in the fridge is a belt and braces approach for food safety. If your really concerned then portion and vac pack the garlic and freeze.

To Jar
Place the garlic in your hot jar, pour in the olive oil and cover the top of the garlic by a few inches, place in your herbs and seal the lid, I leave the jar to cool on the side then store in the fridge, use within 6 weeks. Keep the left over garlic oil once all the garlic is used for adding flavour to your cooking, having said that I often take a good spoonful of the oil with the garlic for just that when cooking.

Awesome Nutty Garlic Oil Dip

3 bulbs of garlic finely sliced

200ml olive oil

In a frying pan add 100ml of the olive oil and the garlic, over a medium heat fry until nutty brown, take off the heat and add the rest of the olive oil and leave to infuse, serve cold or warm, this is great for dipping prawns in, poured over roast chicken, dipping crusty bread in along with a dip of aged balsamic vinegar amount many ideas.

Garlic Croutons

Slice your sour dough bread thin, drizzle with a hint of olive oil and bake in the oven for 10 minutes turning over half way through, squeeze out the roasted garlic purée and load up.

Roasted Garlic Purée

This beautiful little parcel packs great nutty sweet mild garlicky flavour to any dish, sauce and gravy it's great to spread on toast, add to stuffings and great with cheese and crackers. One of my favourite ways to eat this is pasted over a roasted herby sausage meat stuffed chicken breast wrapped in Parma ham with creamy rich garlicky country gravy! When I'm going to roast garlic I do several whole bulbs at a time so that I have extra squidgy garlic purée in the fridge ready to go adding that extra layer of flavour to a dish at a moments notice.

Ingredients

4 whole bulbs of garlic

50ml olive oil

1 pinch Himalayan sea salt (optional)

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees and quite simply place the bulbs in a dish toss through the olive oil and season with the salt, cover the dish with baking paper or foil, bake in the oven for 30 minutes for soft whole squidgy spreadable cloves great for spreading or 40 minutes for a purée spread that melts into sauces

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.