When you want a meal that’s quick to put together and uses minimal ingredients, you’ll probably be choosing from one of those pasta dishes that were made for easy weeknight dinners. A standout recipe is the very basic, but very delicious, aglio e olio. You could absolutely put in the time and effort to make a single serving of pasta from scratch, and then go on to make this simple dish, but there is another, much easier way to boost the flavor of this classic dish: adding black garlic.
Food Republic spoke to Jem Mantiri, vegan food recipe blogger at The Fruity Jem, and rather than swapping out regular garlic for black (which might have been your first thought), she recommended a different approach, saying, “I would not substitute regular garlic with black garlic, since they have different flavor profiles […] I recommend using both regular garlic and black garlic so you still get that characteristic garlicky flavor for aglio e olio,” alongside the depth, complexity, and surprising sweetness of black garlic.
What is black garlic?
Black garlic is a fermented product. In fact, it’s regular garlic that has been aged, heated, and humidified. These conditions mellow fresh garlic’s piquancy and see the allium undergo the Maillard reaction. According to Jem Mantiri this causes the garlic to develop “a deep, caramelized flavor with subtle sweetness, instead of the aromatic and sharp taste of regular garlic.”
This transformation ensures that black garlic is a great addition to aglio e olio. As Mantiri explained, “when incorporated into aglio e olio, black garlic changes the flavor profile, adding an extra layer of flavor, namely a deep, caramelized umami flavor with notes of molasses-y and balsamic vinegar-y flavor.” It’s kind of amazing that such a small ingredient — and one that is native to Asia — can add so much to a classic Italian dish. And yet, as Mantiri pointed out, black garlic “complements other ingredients like red pepper flakes and olive oil in the aglio e olio beautifully.”
How to incorporate black garlic into aglio e olio
Using black garlic to upgrade your aglio e olio requires just one simple step. “I recommend simply adding a few cloves of black garlic, minced the same way you would mince regular garlic,” said Jem Mantiri. “You can just add them the same time you add the regular garlic, so in the beginning.” Just let it infuse into the oil the same way you let your regular garlic infuse, she advised, and you will end up “creating a flavor combination that is truly unique and delicious.”
While you could try to mash the black garlic into the olive oil using a mortar and pestle, Mantiri doesn’t recommend “blending black garlic into the oil since this can be tricky.” She continued, saying. “When blending, heat and oxygen can be introduced, impacting the quality of the olive oil, which you definitely want to preserve in this dish.”
Because there are so few ingredients in aglio e olio, all of them must shine, and if you oxygenate your olive oil by trying to work black garlic into it, your pasta dish may develop a subpar flavor. For this reason, we suggest that you take Mantiri’s advice and add this nifty ingredient alongside the pieces of regular garlic.
