Slow heat to summer: Green Garlic Confit from Plum Granny Farm

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 3.

Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

This weekend is the unofficial start of summer. We all want a table outside where we can spend hours talking with friends in the temperate weather, eating good food cooked in a cool oven for hours while we waited for the timer out-of-doors. Today, we shares a recipe for celebrating this spring’s slow rise to a hot summer: Green Garlic Confit.

Find some fine Green Garlic specimens on our Vegetable Stand outside Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen in Greensboro and Cary; picked fresh from Plum Granny Farm in Capella, NC.

Green Garlic

Confit Green Garlic

Known for its subtle, earthy flavor, smear this late-spring garlic bulb confit on freshly grilled or toasted bread. Save the confit oil and toss with salad, or use it as a dipping oil with bread.

  • 1 lb garlic green bulbs, about 12 bulbs
  • 1 8 x 8 inch loaf or banana bread pan
  • Lower grade olive oil, such as pomace oil

Clean the green garlic bulbs. Trim off the leafy green top (save for your chicken broth), and leave a 4-inch stem above the bulb. Peel off the garlic’s tough outer skin, much like you would peel off the papery layer from an onion or garlic bulb.

Place the the prepped green garlic tops in the loaf pan. Pour in pomace oil, or a lower quality olive oil, over the garlic bulbs, using just enough to cover the bulbs.

For a gas oven with a pilot light, set the pan in the oven to cook the garlic and bulbs for 4 hours, or overnight. For an electric oven, set the temperature to the lowest possible setting and set the pan in the oven. The confit process is about turning up the heat as slow as possible, up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit without going over 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Let the bulbs cool to room temperature. Remove the garlic bulbs and place on a plate with fresh rosemary. Save the remaining oil and season with fresh salt and pepper to use as a bread dip.

Green Garlic

Green garlic is harvested before the head divides into cloves, and is usually the result of farmers thinning their crop by picking every other plant to allow the remaining garlic to expand into the vacated space (much like spring onions). This young plant has a milder taste than the mature garlic that is usually encountered. Green garlic is usually available at farmers markets or directly from farms growing garlic. The “season” for green garlic is usually brief, toward the end of spring.

Start with a pound of fresh Green Garlic from the Farmer’s Cart outside Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen
Try this: Cook Green Garlic bulbs over a gas stove. Place bulbs directly on the burner and gently char the greens.

Read LOCAVORE’s DELIGHT: The Series.

For more about our seasonal recipes, see our current menu at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen and our Blog Recipe Index:http://lucky32southernkitchen.com/recipes/

 

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