We’ve got an exciting new ingredient in the veg box shop this week. Black garlic is a really handy store cupboard ingredient and it tastes like nothing else. It is versatile enough to add to almost any cuisine to give sweetness and complexity, it doesn’t really taste like garlic.

This black garlic comes from Spain. I have tried other brands and they all taste different, some are acidic or funky or like licorice but this one is soft and sweet and more like toffee. It is absolutely incredible mixed with butter and spread on crackers with a lump of tangy cheddar (we gorged on that and couldn’t eat dinner yesterday). I have also tried it in a stir fry with soy and 5 spice and a splash of rice wine vinegar it was like a hoi sin sauce.

As summer is coming though and we are all getting ready for more crunchy colourful foods I think a vinaigrette recipe seems timely. I made this salad with those fresh radishes and purple sprouting from Yorkshire, the wild onions and claytonia from our farm in Glasgow. Taste sensation and so nice to eat fresh salad after the months of root veg.

You can make this in batches and it will keep in a jar for weeks.

Ingredients: (serves 8-ish)

6 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp vinegar

(I used blackberry vinegar but anything you would add to a vinaigrette is fine)

3 spring onions (or a couple of shallots)

5-6 cloves black garlic (try it with less and add more to your taste)

a pinch of salt

To prepare just blitz everything together in a blender or food processor of some sort. Make sure to keep blending for a few minutes to get a smooth paste/emulsion. Check the seasoning & adjust to your taste.

You can store this in a jar for a few weeks. To change things up you could add some chilli for that hot, sour, sweet combo or I added some tahini to make it more creamy and nutty. That worked really well.