Black Garlic: The Little Black Dress in My Kitchen

MARIE FLANAGAN

We recently hosted a raclette dinner party at our house, and while the toasty bread, melted raclette cheese, roasted potatoes, and tangy cornichons delighted, my secret ingredient, a lightly toasted bulb of black garlic spread on toast, utterly captivated me.

What is black garlic? Black garlic is simply garlic that has slowly aged without any additives—the cloves turn a very dark brown during the aging process. Some celebrate black garlic as a health food, due, in part, to the presence of allicin and diallyl sulphides in garlic. Others simply cherish the caramelized, umami flavor of black garlic. Black garlic is softer and sweeter than raw garlic, and it lacks some of the strong odor and pungency it has in its raw state.

So why did a bulb of roasted black garlic sidle its way in to our raclette dinner? I found a new local source for it. Blue Fortune Farm is a certified organic farm in southern Wisconsin, where farmers Mike and Karen are producing about 1000 lbs. annually of black garlic in a high-humidity warming oven.

“I was out in DC, and I had some black garlic at a Thai restaurant. I tried it, and it was great, but they said they were importing it,” said Mike from Blue Fortune Farm. “I had been growing garlic here, and made a commitment to start making black garlic.”

Last year Blue Fortune Farm planted five acres of garlic. Their goal is to grow 20 acres of garlic, but first they have a few other goals to meet, like purchasing a tractor, explained Mike from Blue Fortune Farm. 

I read that in Taoist mythology, black garlic was rumored to grant immortality. I’m no expert on immortality, but I do know that if you whip up a batch of pasta aglio e olio using black garlic, you’ll have a meal that your guests will never forget.
 

Pasta Aglio e Olio

4-6 servings
Preparation: 15 minutes

1 pound of pasta
½ cup olive oil
6-10 cloves of black garlic, crushed
Red pepper flakes
Salt

Bring a pot of salted water to a hard boil. Add your pasta (I like spaghetti for this dish).

In a separate pan, heat ½ cup of olive oil over medium heat. Add several cloves of chopped black garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook for 2 minutes, just enough to warm the black garlic in the oil. Set aside.

When the pasta is done cooking, drain it and toss it with the olive oil and garlic mixture. If you want to garnish it, add a bit of chopped Italian parsley and pecorino cheese.

Cross-posted from: Black Garlic: The Little Black Dress in My Kitchen - Twin Cities Taste - January 2013 - Minnesota

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]

Hazelnuts for Minnesota’s Masses

CLEAN ENERGY RESOURCE TEAMS

When most of us think of hazelnuts (or filberts), we think of those round nuts in holiday nut mixes. Historically, hazelnuts have hailed from Europe or Oregon, and have made their way into beloved products like hazelnut liqueur (think Frangelico), or sweet spreads like Nutella. So you might be surprised to find smaller, bulk batches of locally grown hazelnuts popping up at local markets around the Twin Cities. As it turns out, there are two wild species of hazelnuts that are hardy in the cold north woods, and clever Midwestern farmers have figured out how to grow and market them.

Hazelnut Valley Farm is owned and operated by Norm and Mary Erickson in Lake City, Minn. They grow, harvest, and process hazelnuts with a little help from a nifty solar-heated greenhouse. Now, you can purchase their Minnesota-grown Hazelnut Valley Farm hazelnuts at Seward Co-op. 

Hazelnuts have a buttery, slightly sweet flavor and are said to be a good source of protein, unsaturated fat, thiamine, and vitamin B6. They can be stored for three months in your cupboard, or up to a year in your freezer. I’m eager to try my hand at a homemade version of Nutella. But if you’re interested in enjoying the nut in a simpler fashion, here’s a foolproof method for roasting them.

Roasted Hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Coat the hazelnuts with a thin, even coating of olive oil.
Spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking pan.
Let them roast for about 8 minutes, stirring frequently.
Remove them from the oven.
Rub with a towel to remove the skin.
Lightly sprinkle them with sea salt, and allow them to cool.

Cross-posted from: Hazelnuts for Minnesota’s Masses - Twin Cities Taste - January 2013 - Minnesota

[where: Minnesota, Food, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, 55418]

Lindquist Family Christmas Sausage

At a holiday potluck this week, I snagged a slice of sausage that has a unique history in the Twin Cities─Lindquist Family Christmas Sausage. It’s a seasonal sausage link made in St. Paul, and its secret recipe is a Twin Cities legend.

The story goes that the sausage recipe was handed through generations of family members of Harry Lindquist, who was a butcher in north Minneapolis from the 1920s to the 1960s. I had an opportunity to speak with Dave Hansen, Harry Lindquist’s grandson (Hansen is a prolific photographer with the University of Minnesota’s Experiment Station and also operates the Hansen Family Tree Farm). According to Hansen, Harry Lindquist made and sold the Swedish-style sausage at his butcher shop during the holiday season. The Christmas sausage links he created became a yuletide tradition for his family, so much so that he continued making sausage for his family even after he retired.

Years went by, and Harry’s sons and grandsons were brought into the sausage-making fold, learning the recipe and techniques from Harry himself. By the mid-1990s, however, the family’s sausage makers could no longer keep up with the expanding family’s demand for the holiday sausage. So they consulted with a nearby sausage maker at Tim & Tom’s Speedy Market─Tim and Tom agreed not only to take on the task of making the family’s treasured sausage recipe, they also agreed to keep the secret recipe safe.

The sausage is so popular among family members that Hansen’s cousin in Reno, Nev. receives an express shipment every year. Hansen lovingly told the tale of his daughter, Britta, who requested Christmas Sausage for her only Christmas gift when she was serving in the Peace Corps in Bolivia. The family obliged, carefully packing and transporting some Christmas Sausage to Bolivia, where they cheerfully dined on it for three days.

These days, family members and the public can purchase the yuletide sausage links at just one market in the Twin Cities: Tim & Tom’s Speedy Market in St. Paul, where they’re making a mere 2,000 pounds of the Lindquist Family Christmas Sausage this year. It’s available for a limited time, and die-hard fans know that it sells fast, since it's so cherished by many in and outside the family.

Lindquist Family Christmas Sausage is a lean Swedish-style sausage made with pork and a bit of beef. It’s sparsely flavored with salt and allspice and wrapped in hog casing. Dave Hansen served it to me as his mother served it to him─baked at 350 degrees for an hour in the oven, and sliced on a plate without condiments. Hansen says it can be served on a bun, but he never─NEVER!─ate it that way at home.
 

Photo: Christmas dinner at David Hansen’s house, 1986. The family gathers around a pan of The Lindquist Family Christmas Sausage. From Left to right: Alice (Lindquist) Lundblad, Charlotte (Lindquist) Hansen, Janet (Lundblad) VanFossan, Trygg Hansen, Henry Hansen, Britta Hansen. Photo by David Hansen.
 

Tim & Tom’s Speedy Market
2310 Como Avenue, St. Paul
timandtomsspeedymarket.com

Cross post from: Lindquist Family Christmas Sausage - Twin Cities Taste - December 2012 - Minnesota

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]