Tomato Caprese

A typical tomato caprese consists of sliced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil leaves and olive oil. The Isle of Wight is well known for growing good tomatoes so this is my IoW version using Isle of Wight soft cheese instead of mozzarella, British cold pressed rapeseed oil instead of olive oil, and I'm adding a spot of The Garlic Farm black garlic. As this holiday is all about garlic I steeped a clove of garlic in the rapeseed oil for half an hour beforehand, just to add an extra garlic kick.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes (the bigger the better)

Soft cheese, sliced

Basil leaves, whole

Black garlic cloves, sliced

Cold pressed rapeseed oil, 1 tbsp

Small clove of garlic, snapped in half (optional)

Sea salt (I used the black stuff)

Method:

1. Steep the garlic clove in the oil for about half an hour.

2. Slice everything up and plate up.

3. Pour the garlic oil over the salad then sprinkle over the sea salt.

Now just pick up a piece of each ingredient between your thumb and forefinger and shove the lot in your mouth. Yum!

Garlic Pea Crusted Rack of Lamb, Dauphinois Potatoes, Black Garlic Foam

Rack of lamb is a pretty expensive treat but this Welsh rack is a mighty fine treat indeed. This version combines the sweetness of peas with the flavour of garlic to form a colourful but flavourful crust. Paired with garlicky dauphinois potatoes and black garlic foam it takes some beating.

Ingredients:

1x Rack of lamb, seasoned
1x Slice of white bread, grated into crumbs
1x Handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1x Handful of frozen peas, allowed to thaw and finely chopped
1x Garlic clove, crushed or grated
Dijon mustard

500ml Lamb stock
1x Black garlic clove

1kg Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2x Garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
300ml Double cream
300ml Milk
Butter


Method:

1. Arrange the potato slices in an oven dish.
2. On a chopping board sprinkle some salt over the 2 crushed garlic cloves then using the back of a fork work the garlic into a pulp.
3. In a saucepan mix the garlic pulp with the cream and milk and a good pinch of salt and pepper, and warm through.
4. Pour the garlic cream over the potatoes and scatter the top with knobs of butter.Cover with tin foil and put in the oven on gas mark 3 for 90 minutes.
5. To serve I simply placed a glass upside down on top of the dauphinois, cut around it with a knife then pushed the glass into the potatoes. You can then drop the potatoes out of the glass onto the plate to add that extra bit of visual presentation.

Black Garlic Foam:

1. Reduce the lamb stock by half by simmering on the hob, whisking regularly.
2. Peel the black garlic and crush it with the side of a knife. Add the pulp to the stock and continue simmering.
3. Thicken the sauce if needed with a cornflour and water mix then pass through a fine meshed sieve.
4. Pour the sauce into a whipping siphon and charge with one cartridge and shake very well. You can omit this bit if you haven't got a siphon and simply serve the sauce, it's just as tasty.

The Lamb:

1. Mix the breadcrumbs, peas, parsley and garlic together in a bowl.
2. In a hot frying pan brown the lamb on all sides but leave it a bit longer on the skin to melt the fat. Remove from pan and allow to rest.
3. Spread a really good dollop of dijon mustard over the skin and stick the garlic pea mixture to it.
4. Put the lamb in a gas mark 6 pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes. We like our lamb very rare so cook it a bit longer if you prefer it more done.
5. Slice the chops in pairs then plate up. We served ours with some french beans simply blanched for 3 minutes in boiling water.

You can read more about black garlic here www.britishblackgarlic.co.uk

Venison Fillet and Black Garlic Sauce

One ingredient I absolutely love is British black garlic. How it is made is a closely guarded secret but it is basically an aged and cured garlic bulb that turns black as part of the process. The flavour is similar to balsamic vinegar, a sort of liquoricey garlic, a perfect accompaniment to venison fillets. I simply combined it with leftover gravy from the venison cawl the other night but any stock will do.

Ingredients:

2x Venison Fillets
500ml Leftover gravy or stock
1x Large clove of British black garlic


Method:

1. Reduce the gravy or stock by half by simmering on the hob, whisking regularly.
2. Peel the black garlic and crush it with the side of a knife. Add the pulp to the gravy and continue simmering.
3. Thicken the gravy if needed with a cornflour and water mix then pass through a fine meshed sieve.
4. This bit is optional. Pour the gravy into a whipping siphon and charge with one cartridge and shake very well.
5. Season the venison then sear both sides in a hot pan for about 90 seconds a side.
6. Plate up and squirt or pour over your black garlic sauce.
7. Serve with veg of choice, mine is with sweet potato chips and mange tout, and I sneaked a poached egg in there too.


You can read more about black garlic here www.britishblackgarlic.co.uk