Today was not my a typical day round here. The hotel is buzzing with the talk of Graham Downes touches to finish up the Porto Vista hotel and we are scrambling a bit to not only finish up the month end inventory, but to also fit in staff training classes, cleaning schedules, marketing ideas, etc that seem to consume a day up very quickly. While I was pounding away on my laptop downstairs I stopped and thought….
Why did Mokie, Pete Zacarias’ yellow lab completely destroy my trash can the last two days? Mokie is the best dog I have ever met and when I arrive at my office this afternoon to see him a bit nervous and trash spread around my office makes me kinda wonder. My thoughts fly, “I did put a bit of the garlic wrapper in the trash” as I had opened up the bag of garlic bulbs yesterday for a sneak peek, er whiff. I looked up and stared at the bag of black garlic perched on my desk, maybe Mokie knows something that I don’t. I grabbed the bag and took off to the kitchen to check this hunch out!
Once up in the kitchen, humming with the sounds of dinner in full swing I crack open the bag and rip apart a bulb to get at one of the jet black cloves. Soft and lightly tacky, I take a small bite and let the flavors melt into my tongue. “Wow” is all I could conger up, it was the most pleasant ingredient I had tasted in quite a while. The texture, creamy. The flavor reminiscent of black trumpet mushrooms and very rich. My staff is perplexed by yet another “weird” ingredient that I have somehow gotten my hands on. I pass out small bites to the staff and wonder what it would taste like in a mac n cheese.
The richness needs something to carry the flavor, and my mac n cheese seems like the right call, asides from being quick and easy as my time was limited. Julienne up one clove, saute it with some pasta in a bit of oil, deglaze with some Chardonnay, hit it with the cheese sauce and reduce. What came out of this quick and easy experiment was a black trumpet/truffle-ish tasting mac n cheese that delighted not only my staff, who on occasion can be a bit reserved, but also a couple of locals who I asked to try it. I snapped a couple of photo’s and hurried back downstairs to write this all down before going back to spreadsheets and training manuals. Can’t wait to play some more with this when I find a bit of extra time.
If you have this sitting around your home you should try the mac n cheese version for yourself (I’ll post the other recipes later). The recipe is in this blog,
check out the archive page to find it or
. Gotta run, have fun and Bon Appetite.
check out the archive page to find it or
. Gotta run, have fun and Bon Appetite.
Here is the recipe…
Macaroni pasta, cooked (figure about 1/2 cup dried per person)
Whole or low fat milk (around a cup for each serving)
Roux or cornstarch (enough to make the milk resemble a thin chowder)
White cheddar (about 1/4 cup per serving)
Parmesan (depends on your taste but I like 2 tablespoons, er pinches per)
Black garlic cloves (figure 1/2 clove per serving)
Salt and white pepper to taste
Sourdough breadcrumbs
Whole or low fat milk (around a cup for each serving)
Roux or cornstarch (enough to make the milk resemble a thin chowder)
White cheddar (about 1/4 cup per serving)
Parmesan (depends on your taste but I like 2 tablespoons, er pinches per)
Black garlic cloves (figure 1/2 clove per serving)
Salt and white pepper to taste
Sourdough breadcrumbs
to start….
1. Bring the milk to a simmer and season with the salt and pepper.
2. With a wand mixer or hand blendor, add the roux/cornstarch and blend until thickening occurs. The amount of thickener you put in will determine how thick your sauce is.
3. Cook your pasta in salted water until al dente, 7-9 minutes. Drain and cool in ice water, reserve.
4. Add grated or shredded cheeses & black garlic to sauce base and over a low heat, stir until cheese is melted.
5. Add sauce to a saute pan and heat, add pasta and cook for 2 minutes to reduce sauce and finish cooking pasta.
6. Place the mac n cheese into the serving bowl and top with the breadcrumbs.
7. Pop under the broiler for a minute to crisp, remove and drizzle/sprinkle with a bit more of the black garlic and serve.
2. With a wand mixer or hand blendor, add the roux/cornstarch and blend until thickening occurs. The amount of thickener you put in will determine how thick your sauce is.
3. Cook your pasta in salted water until al dente, 7-9 minutes. Drain and cool in ice water, reserve.
4. Add grated or shredded cheeses & black garlic to sauce base and over a low heat, stir until cheese is melted.
5. Add sauce to a saute pan and heat, add pasta and cook for 2 minutes to reduce sauce and finish cooking pasta.
6. Place the mac n cheese into the serving bowl and top with the breadcrumbs.
7. Pop under the broiler for a minute to crisp, remove and drizzle/sprinkle with a bit more of the black garlic and serve.
**credit to: chefRob - http://agreatchef.com/blog/recipes/black-garlic-aged-impressions-and-recipe/
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