Garlic

There are many of you out there that worry about their meal-choices imparting a negative impact on their haleine. That is the reason I have never packed a lunch of canned tuna and rice cakes for uni. Cat food and crackers. I mean please. And any members of the cabbage family, well, go easy on them. Trust me, I’ve learnt from other’s mistakes. There is one thing however I couldn’t care less about what effect I could have on my fellow lunch-eaters (sorry guys). I adore garlic. nay, I love it. Maybe not so much raw garlic though. I have been told that if you eat a few raw cloves a day it will help keep mosquitos at bay. Yeah well I personally prefer insect repellent, but whatever you’re into.

Cooked, baked, fried and caramelized garlic, however, a recipe can never have enough of. There is nothing more satisfying than scooping the creamy white cloves out of an oven-roasted head of garlic, drizzled with some olive oil and a grating of Parmesan cheese onto a slice of crusty baguette.

As a young’un I always wondered how the street vendors made their garlic bread so tasty, so much better than that home made version my parents’ friends would offer at dinner parties. I don’t know, but I think I’ve cracked it.

If you are going to make garlic bread with this, please do a Nigella and don’t be stingy with the butter. It’s naughty anyway so why not go all the way. The more the better.

Garlic Butter

250g unsalted butter, cubed, softened

1 Tbsp mayonnaise (In my opinion, this is the secret)

t tsp Dijon mustard

small bunch of curly parsley, finely chopped

small bunch of chives, finely chopped

6 large garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated

30g parmesan cheese, grated

½ tsp vegetable stock granules

2 pinches turmeric (optional – I just like the beautiful golden hue it gives to the garlic bread)

There are two ways to do this: either, beat the butter with a spoon or hand held mixed until creamy, then add the rest of the ingredients and beat until combined. Or, get your hands and treat it as if it where bread dough, kneading and squishing it until well mixed.

Roll the butter into a sausage shape and wrap up in cling wrap. Store in the freezer until needed. Which in my case is immediately, duh.

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