Recipe ideas for Black Garlic Butter

Garlic Butter with Black Garlic is the flavour-packed kitchen staple you never knew you needed! With its combination of sweet, heat-aged black garlic, fresh garlic, and salted butter, a small scoop adds instant umami to any dish, from simply cooked vegetables to roast chicken. Here are some of our favourite ways to use it:

Garlic fougasse or flatbread: Using your favourite pizza dough recipe or our recipe for focaccia, roll out your dough and lay it on a baking tray or pizza stone. Slash it in several places, and pull the dough out loosely to create a few leaf-shaped ovals. Bake in a hot (230 C or more) oven for 7-10 minutes until cooked. Dot Black Garlic Butter onto the bread's still-warm surface and spread generously.

Black Garlic cauliflower cheese: Use our Garlic Butter with Black Garlic in place of ordinary butter when making a roux for Béchamel sauce. Let the roux cook on a gentle heat for a few minutes, then continue to make the white sauce as normal, slowly adding milk until the sauce begins to thicken. Meanwhile, boil or steam cauliflower florets in a pan of salted water. Once tender, drain the cauliflower and place in an ovenproof dish with the garlic-enhanced Béchamel. A topping of grated cheddar cheese is all that's needed to complete this twist on a classic Cauliflower Cheese.

Garlic prawns: Melt a little Black Garlic Butter in a frying pan, with a dash of olive oil. Once sizzling, tip in some raw King Prawns, and season with salt and black pepper, stirring. When the prawns have turned pink (about 4-5 minutes), add chopped flat-leaf parsley, then serve with crusty bread.

Vegetables: Mushrooms, corn on the cob, broccoli, roasted cauliflower, shredded cabbage, sliced aubergine - all benefit from the mild, umami-dense sweetness that Black Garlic Butter lends them. Use a spoonful when sautéing vegetables such as mushrooms (substitute it for regular butter in our Field Kitchen recipe here) or add it to cooked veggies just before serving.

Other suggestions to try...

• Black Garlic pairs brilliantly with seafood, so use a spoonful of our butter whenever pan-frying or grilling seafood such as scallops or white fish.
• Dot generously onto chicken before roasting, (or you can slip it beneath the chicken skin, if you prefer) and season well. Baste the meat with the melted Black Garlic Butter at regular intervals during cooking to infuse the chicken with its buttery garlic flavour.
• Melt a spoonful in a pan with a few chopped spring onions, and drizzle over steak while the meat is resting after cooking.
• Try in homemade gravy as a subtle flavour enhancer.
• Stir through risotto before serving - it particularly complements our Black Garlic Mushroom Risotto recipe.
• For a creamy, crowd-pleasing, pasta dish, replace the butter and chopped Elephant Garlic with Black Garlic Butter in our Mushroom Tagliatelle recipe.
• Stir into scrambled eggs just before serving, or mash a generous spoonful with hard-boiled eggs for a twist on egg mayonnaise for sandwiches.
• Jacket potatoes need little more than Garlic Butter with Black Garlic to turn them into the ultimate comfort food, while a modest spoonful would elevate simple mashed potato to a gourmet side dish.