We love our food-themed events here in the SK kitchen as they give us the chance to be creative, so when we discovered there was a National Garlic Day, the five of us were fighting over who should provide the recipe.
The reason for this is that garlic is one of the staples in our kitchen (and pretty much every kitchen in the world).
If we didn’t have garlic, it would be difficult to make many of the dishes we supply to the UK’s biggest supermarkets.
Can you imagine a spring roll, onion bhaaji or garlic mushroom without this amazing bulb? Well, in the case of the latter that’s fairly obvious!
Yes, it’s fair to say we go through quite a bit of garlic in the SK kitchen.
Its pungent intensity adds both sweetness and savoury depth to dishes. It also has numerous health benefits. Do you know studies have suggested that garlic can reduce cholesterol, be more effective than antibiotics and even lower blood pressure?
The only downside is when you have eaten garlic you, and everyone else around you, certainly knows about it, but hey, at least it keeps the vampires away!
National Garlic Day Recipe: Roast Garlic & Potato Soup
Ingredients:
Soup
• 400g diced potato
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves
• 200g diced onion
• 750ml chicken stock
• 250ml water
• 250ml single cream
• 80g butter
• Salt to taste
Oil
• 200g spring onions
• 200g wild garlic
• 500ml rapeseed oil
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 180 and roast garlic cloves for 10 minutes. Add the olive oil to a pan and sweat the onions over a medium heat until soft, add potato and the rest of the ingredients (including the reserved garlic) to the pan. Simmer over a low heat until the potato is cooked through. Blend the soup using a stick blender or food processor and season to taste.
- For the oil, blend ingredients then strain and use the oil and/or pulp and put on top of the soup.
Enjoy this dish hot or cold.
More information on National Garlic Day can be found at www.nationalgarlicday.com
About Sean Flint
Development & Innovation Chef of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.
