Crema di Green Garlic

When my garden gave me a bounty of green garlic instead of mature garlic I needed to find a way to preserve some of it and this is the result. It's a variation on my preparation of Garlic Confit. I had intended to try a Green Garlic Confit but found that green garlic doesn't soften sufficiently. So I pureed the garlic with the oil and butter that it had cooked in and ended up with an utterly delicious creamy spread.

Crema di Green Garlic

8 oz. green garlic, including the tender parts of the stalks
4 oz. dry white wine or prosecco
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 oz. (4 tbsp.) butter
4 oz. rice bran oil (I like Tophé brand) or olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper and additional salt to taste

Slice the garlic into thin crosswise rings. Place in a small deep saucepan and add the wine, salt, butter, and oil. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting, use a flame tamer if necessary. Simmer uncovered very slowly for about 1 1/2 hours. Most of the wine should simmer away, don't allow the garlic to fry in the oil, add more wine or water if necessary. Allow the mixture to cool a bit. Puree the contents of the saucepan until smooth. Taste for seasonings.

This made more than 1 1/2 cups of puree. I filled three 1/2-cup jars with the puree and first refrigerated and then froze them.

What to do with it? The first thing I tried (other than just eating it with a spoon) was spreading it on grilled bread and then adding various toppings such as ricotta and preserved sweet peppers, or ricotta and chopped sauteed broccoli. I also slathered it on asparagus and then roasted the asparagus. It was tasty dolloped on top of some pan roasted wild salmon. I'm sure it would be great tossed with grilled or steamed vegetables. And I don't see why it can't substitute for fresh garlic in my favorite Caesar salad dressing. It's probably good for just about any use that fresh garlic would be good for.

Garlic Cream Marinade
The garlic cream was good as the base of a marinade for some lamb loin chops. I mixed a dollop of the cream with some minced fresh rosemary, white wine, and a splash of fish sauce (soy sauce would probably be a good substitute), tossed the chops in the mixture and let them marinate for about an hour at room temperature before cooking them on the grill.

Onion Variation:

Use the same proportions and method to slow cook the stems of young onions. I used the tender portions of the stalks from the onions shown above. None of the green leaves were used, but some of the inner parts of the stalks were green which was ok. Here's the proportions that I used

22 oz. sliced onion stalks
11 oz. white wine
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 1/2 oz. butter
11 oz. rice bran oil

Follow the method for the garlic cream.