Thursday, September 10, 2015

Everything Garlic! Sept 2015


Fun night at Betty's with a 'special' guest.  Chef Dennis and his girlfriend Lori joined us for a special presentation that included Black Garlic!  It was so interesting to learn that  black garlic is a type of caramelized garlic that is made by heating whole cloves of garlic over the course of a few weeks.  The flavor of the garlic is so different.... kind of sweet with a balsamic vinegar hint.

Dennis used the garlic in a risotto dish that was topped with blanched asparagus.  So YUMMY!

Dennis working his magic

Risotto with Black Garlic
final product ~ risotto with asparagus
Needless to say everyone's dish was fabulous and all had garlic - including dessert!  More on that in a moment....

Denise & Jeanne 
Denise's roasted garlic spread
To kick things off Cindy serving up tapas size serving of her pasta dish with broccoli & shrimp.

Pasta, broccoli & Shrimp
I brought count necks to sauté in butter, GARLIC and white wine... so excited to get the opportunity to cook outside in the wood burning pizza oven.


Sautéing the fennel and garlic 
`
Cooking the clams  ~ look at that fire!
We had a diverse spread from roasted garlic spread, fresh salad, clams, pasta, sausage and peppers, stuffed artichokes, roasted cauliflower and sautéed shrimp!

Salad, crostini, clams and pasta
Jen's amazing sausage and peppers
Jeanne's garlic shrimp

 We had a good showing of veggies too!   Denise's salad was filled with little treasures of nuts and fruit.  Cindy brought artichokes made with a cracker stuffing.  Rita brought roasted cauliflower.  We had the full spectrum of food!
Salad with all kinds of treats in it

Cindy's stuffed artichokes

Rita's roasted cauliflower

Angi brought a chocolate log cake with mint ice-cream  - help fend off all that garlic taste!


Our guest Lori brought garlic rosemary pine-nut brittle.  It was a very tastey surprise... just a hint of garlic and rosemary with the touch of salt and sweet.  Need to make this again!





Chocolate mint log and brittle

Once again - great night - fabulous food - fun time!  Thank you to my cooking club girls and to Dennis and Lori for joining us and making it a great night!

Cindy, Jen, Denise, Jeanne, Lori, Jen, Betty & Chef Dennis