roasted garlic duxelle

A little more than a week ago I talked about the pork wellington that I would be making for my family’s Christmas dinner. This past Saturday we had our Christmas dinner early thanks to my wife’s holiday work schedule and the roasted garlic duxelle I had devised for the pork wellington came out amazingly good.

Seriously, this stuff is so good it would taste good on a car bumper, as a certain celebrity chef might say.

I have no idea if calling this a duxelle is accurate, as most everything I’ve read about a duxelle involves mushrooms. Maybe it is better characterized as a roasted garlic jam. Still, since they are both essentially pastes designed to be fillings for Wellington type dishes, I’m sticking with it.

It definitely takes a bit of work to prepare, but it was totally worth it. Now that I know how good it is I am intrigued about its other potential applications.

hardware

food processor
skillet or frying pan
knife and cutting board
measuring cups and spoons

software

3 heads of garlic
olive oil
1/4 # Pancetta, frozen and finely diced
1 tablespoons butter
1 large red onions, finely chopped
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup parmesan reggiano
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
salt and pepper to taste

assemblage

preheat oven to 350 degrees
cut the heads of garlic in half, place in a roasting pan, then drizzle with olive oil and roast until golden brown (35 to 45 minutes)
while the garlic is roasting, saute the pancetta until crispy
add the butter, red onion and shallot to the pancetta and continue to saute for ive to seven minutes
stir in the balsamic vinegar, then add the parsley, thyme and rosemary
after two or three minutes add the heavy cream to finish, then remove from heat and allow to cool
when both the garlic heads are able to be handled and the onion mixture has cooled, add to a food processor
add the parmesan and pine nuts, then pulse six to eight times to combine