SFist in the Kitchen: Green Garlic
We first tasted green garlic at the Chez Panisse Café eight years ago. Gosh, was it really that far back? We were mere toddlers, of course, but we remember the restaurant served it with fresh parsley-flecked pasta topped with black trumpet mushrooms and goat cheese. We liked the way the heady perfume and mild garlicky taste—less harsh than the older bulbs most people know—filled out the dish. We tried to replicate the recipe at the time, but these younger forms of garlic were hard to find. You still only see the purple-streaked plants during springtime farmer's markets, which gives them street cred with California cuisine aficionados.
SFist Derrick, contributing. Photos by Melissa Schneider.
Not surprisingly, Chez Panisse Vegetables offers a number of ideas for this vegetable, including soufflés, puddings, soups and more. We liked their suggestion of ravioli stuffed with a green garlic and potato purée, but we didn't feel like making pasta after a long day of marketgoing and wine tasting. Instead, we made croquettes by deep-frying balls of super-smooth mashed potatoes mixed with coarsely chopped green garlic. The garlic provided taste, an interesting contrast of texture, and subtle fingerprint whorls on the crispy exterior of the croquettes. We liked these atop a spring salad of other farmer's market finds, whose funky vegetable tastes demanded a Gruner Veltliner from Austria, one of the few wines that can stand up to the wine-destroying chemicals in artichokes and asparagus.
Green garlic croquettes
We didn't follow a particular recipe for this, but it's easy to improvise. We started with our favorite mashed potatoes; you can make them the day before, and croquettes are a great way to use up leftovers. We added coarsely chopped green garlic, and because we didn't let the potatoes sit long enough to get stiff, we finished with an egg and some flour to hold it together. We suggest a light hand with the flour to prevent the croquettes from tasting chalky and dry. Heat canola oil to 350° and drop balls of the potato mixture into the oil. Fry until brown on all sides, turning croquette often to get all the sides in the hot oil. Use a slotted spoon and remove to a plate lined with a paper towel, drain briefly, and serve them while still hot.