For a little bulb that grows in the ground, garlic remains one of the world’s most beloved ingredients. It’s used in eastern and western cooking in equal measure, and while it was still seen as relatively exotic in the UK as recently as the 1980s, we now chop up cloves as much as we do onions.
However, finely chopping garlic cloves isn’t exactly the most exciting activity. If it’s rushed, you end up with big chunks of astringent garlic throughout the dish, and it can be time-consuming to chop them down into a paste-like texture, where they can really work their magic in sauces, rubs, marinades and stir-fries. That’s why garlic pastes are such a popular purchase at the shops – ground garlic cloves can simply be added by the spoonful, rather than a requirement for knives and chopping boards. Garlic paste is used extensively in Indian cookery in particular, but more and more time-strapped home cooks are using it when preparing dishes from all sorts of international cuisines.
Garlic’s powerful, unmistakable flavour can be improved upon, however – something Bart’s new duo of garlic pastes proves perfectly. One contains cloves that have been given the oak-smoked treatment, while the other provides a simple, accessible way to experience black garlic, packed with incredible flavour.
Read on for a little more information on each, before taking a look at two recipes we’ve created that showcase the pastes’ flavours in simple yet impressive dishes.
