
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!
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| Dennis working his magic |
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| Risotto with Black Garlic |
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| 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....
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| Denise & Jeanne |
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| Denise's roasted garlic spread |
To kick things off Cindy serving up tapas size serving of her pasta dish with broccoli & shrimp.
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| 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.
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| Sautéing the fennel and garlic |
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| 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!
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| Salad, crostini, clams and pasta |
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| Jen's amazing sausage and peppers |
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| 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!
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| Salad with all kinds of treats in it |
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| Cindy's stuffed artichokes |
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| 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!
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| 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!
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| Cindy, Jen, Denise, Jeanne, Lori, Jen, Betty & Chef Dennis |