The pink garlic from Lautrec is particularly aromatic, yet not overpowering. It is both sweet and spicy, and its aroma unfolds subtly without overpowering the other ingredients in the dish.
It's also known for its long shelf life. At a constant temperature of approximately 12 to 15 °C in a dry, well-ventilated storage area, it will easily keep for a whole year.
We celebrate the new harvest every year and look forward to offering the fresh produce for a few weeks starting in early August. Our employee Jens has prepared three delicious dishes for our garlic festival, and we're sharing the recipes here so you can enjoy them at home, too.
Be inspired and don't be afraid of too much garlic – for once, the principle of "less is more" doesn't apply!
1. Aïoli – garlic mayonnaise
Ingredients:
- 2 bulbs of garlic
- 2 medium-sized waxy potatoes
- Salt
- Vinegar, e.g. Leblanc Champagne Vinegar , or lemon
- Grape seed oil , e.g. from Leblanc
Preparation:
Peel the potatoes and cook them slowly (this preserves the starch). Let them cool, then puree them with the raw garlic using a hand blender.
Add a good splash of vinegar or lemon juice and a pinch of salt and finally combine with grape seeds to make a mayonnaise.
→ Aïoli tastes great with just about anything you can imagine. It's traditionally eaten with steamed vegetables like potatoes, carrots, leeks, beans... Your imagination and your cravings are the only limits!
2. Confit garlic
Ingredients:
- Garlic as desired
- Grape seed and olive oil , e.g. from Leblanc
- Honey
Preparation:
Separate the garlic into individual cloves, peel, and fry briefly but very hot. Then add a mixture of grapeseed and olive oil to the pan, ensuring the garlic is completely covered.
Let it simmer for 4 hours. The oil should only be warm enough for you to dip your finger into it. Test it frequently. If the oil gets too hot, remove the pan from the heat; if it gets too cool, put it back on. If you have a kitchen thermometer, you can skip the finger-tapping trick. Just make sure the oil doesn't get hotter than 35°C.
If you want to serve the garlic fresh, drain the oil after 4 hours and save it for use in other delicious dishes (like the delicious bread salad, see below). If you'd like to store the confit garlic sooner, place it in a jar with the oil, making sure the garlic is completely covered with oil.
For the honey version: Add honey to taste to the fried garlic and caramelize. Then proceed as described.
> Confit garlic is intended for seasoning, although it can also be eaten as is. For example, it's excellent for refining vinaigrettes and other sauces. This makes the sauces spicy, but not hot; in fact, they're even a little sweet.
3. Bread salad with garlic oil
Ingredients:
- White bread from the day before
- spring onions
- Tomates de Marmande (semi-dried tomatoes, available here. Classic dried tomatoes will do in a pinch, but they are saltier and less juicy)
- Capers (we also have them)
- Olive oil with confit garlic / garlic oil
- Salt
- Vinegar
- Espelette pepper
Preparation:
Chop the spring onions and Marmande tomatoes. Mix them with the capers and toast them in a pan, then set aside. Cut the white bread into bite-sized pieces. Heat olive oil (or the garlic oil left over from confiting the garlic) in a pan and sear the bread pieces as you would for croutons. Add salt immediately, otherwise the bread won't absorb the salt as well.
When the bread is brown enough, add the spring onion, tomato, and caper mixture. Season with vinegar, oil (either the garlic oil left over from confiting the garlic, or olive oil mixed with confit garlic), and Espelette pepper. Garnish with basil, parsley, or coriander, if desired.
Tip: If you want the bread to stay crispy, let it cool before mixing it with the rest of the mixture.
> The bread salad tastes excellent with pan-fried dishes.
All recipes are available as print-friendly PDFs here.
- - -
Our wine recommendation: We think rosé wines go particularly well with the pink garlic from Lautrec, and of course, rosés from Provence are the best... because you can always rely on the old rule of thumb that wines from the same region always pair wonderfully with any dish. This also applies to cheese, of course!
More impressions of our festival:
