Aroma therapy: Skye Gyngell reveals her tips on getting the most satisfyingly soft flavours from garlic

Almost everyone is seduced by the smell of garlic cooking. As it emanates from the kitchen, the aroma draws you in and makes you feel hungry. It is the most alluring of all smells, but to describe it is impossible.

We tend to associate garlic with strength and punch, but it can be used delicately in dishes, too. Generally, the more garlic is pounded or chopped, the stronger the taste. I rarely add garlic at the start of cooking, preferring to add it later, sometimes as late as halfway through. The result is a softer, more satisfying flavour.

When buying garlic, search out bulbs that are tight, firm and hard, without any discolouration or bruises. And do not use garlic that has developed small, green shoots. Garlic should not be stored in the fridge, but in a cool, dry place.

I've dedicated a whole chapter in my new book, My Favourite Ingredients (Quadrille, £25), to garlic. The following recipes are taken from there.

Skye Gyngell is head chef at Petersham Nurseries, Church Lane, Richmond, Surrey, tel: 020 8606 3627

Chicken with garlic and fennel

During summer, I'll serve this simple dish with green beans and new potatoes, drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil.

Serves 4

1 organic free-range chicken, about 1.4kg, jointed into 8 pieces
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1tsp fennel seeds
1tsp coriander seeds
2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
1 dried red chilli
1tsp saffron threads
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 fennel bulbs, with outer layer removed
250ml white wine
2 x 340g jars (or tins) of good-quality peeled plum tomatoes
Pared zest of 1 orange
3 bay leaves
5 thyme sprigs
1-2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

Season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole over a medium heat. When hot, brown the chicken pieces in batches, turning to colour them all over – they should look really golden. Once browned, remove the pieces and set aside. Pour off any excess fat from the casserole, leaving around 1 tbsp or so.

In a separate pan, warm the fennel and coriander seeds until they release their fragrance, then grind finely with a pestle.

Add the onions to the casserole and cook over a low heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Crumble over the chilli and add the ground spices, saffron and garlic. Season with a good pinch of salt and a little pepper, and stir well to combine. Add the fennel bulb, cut into quarters.

Pour in the wine, turn up the heat a little and let bubble and reduce for a minute or so, then add the tomatoes. Return the chicken to the pan and add the orange zest and herbs. Lower the heat and cover. Cook very gently for 40 minutes, until the chicken is just starting to fall off the bone.

Taste and adjust the seasoning; if you're like me, you'll want to add a splash of extra-virgin olive oil to bring the whole dish together. Serve with bread to mop up the delicious juices.

Slow-roasted pork belly with puréed garlic

Garlic purée goes wonderfully with the sweet, succulent flesh of pork belly.

Serves 6-8

2kg pork belly, with skin on and ribs intact
50ml olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1tbsp fennel seeds
4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
4 celery sticks, cut into chunks
2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped
3 bay leaves
Few rosemary sprigs
2 dried red chillies
500ml white wine

For the garlic purée

20 very fresh whole, peeled garlic cloves
200ml whole milk
3 lemon thyme (or ordinary thyme) sprigs
50ml mild-tasting extra virgin olive oil
Few drops of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6. Using a very sharp knife, score the skin of the pork at regular intervals with 5mm-deep cuts. Rub the olive oil into the flesh and season with 1 tbsp sea salt and the fennel seeds. Place the pork, skin side up, in a roasting tray and roast in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes until crackling begins to form.

Carefully lift out the pork on to a platter and scatter the vegetables, herbs and dried chillies in the roasting tray. Pour over the wine, season lightly and stir to combine. Rest the pork on top of the vegetables and cover with foil. Lower the oven setting to 160°C/Gas 3. Return the pork to the oven and cook for a further 2 hours. Remove the foil and cook, uncovered, for a further 20 minutes.

While the pork is roasting, make the garlic purée. Put the garlic, milk and thyme sprigs in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. Add a pinch of salt and bring to just under a simmer, then turn down the heat to very low and poach the garlic very gently until soft, about 35 minutes. The garlic should be very soft and almost falling apart. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic cloves to a bowl and add a tablespoonful or so of the milk. Using a fork mash to a purée, then stir in the olive oil. Add a few drops of lemon juice and season with a little more salt and pepper to taste; keep warm.

Cut the pork into 2-3cm thick slices, sliding out the bones as you do so and discarding the vegetables. Arrange on warm plates with the broccoli. Spoon over the garlic purée and serve.

Stracotto

Rich and simple, this dish is the sum of its parts – good wine, a good but inexpensive cut of meat, some aromatic herbs and patience... It will take all day to cook, but then good things come to those who wait.

Serves 6

1.5-2kg piece of shoulder or rump of beef, trimmed of most (but not all) of its fat
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
40ml olive oil
3 yellow onions, peeled and chopped
4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 celery sticks, trimmed and chopped
10 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
Sprig of bay leaves (4-6 leaves)
Small bunch of thyme sprigs
Small bunch of flat leaf parsley
1 litre good-quality chicken stock
1 bottle (750ml) red wine, preferably Chianti or Barbaresco
1 pig's trotter (optional)

Season the meat generously all over with salt and pepper, then form into a neat roll and tie with string.

Heat the olive oil in a flameproof casserole (large enough to hold all the ingredients comfortably) over a medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the meat and brown well all over, turning as necessary; this will take about 15 minutes. Lift out on to a plate and set aside. Now add the vegetables to the casserole with the garlic and herbs, and turn down the heat slightly. Cook over a fairly low heat for 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft and sweet. Return the meat to the casserole, pour over the stock and wine, and add the pig's trotter if using. Put the lid on and reduce the heat to low. Cook over a very low heat (use a heat diffuser if possible) for 5 hours.

Take out the meat and bay leaves, then strain the sauce through a colander, pressing firmly with the back of a ladle to pass the vegetables through – this will thicken and enrich the final sauce. Return the meat and bay leaves to the pan and pour over the strained sauce. Cook over a very low heat for a further hour. At this point, turn off the heat and allow to cool. (The flavour will be improved if the dish is allowed to come to room temperature and reheated to serve.)

Before serving, reheat the stracotto gently – the meat should now be falling apart, with a rich, glossy sauce to accompany it. Serve in soup plates, with whatever you like. We sometimes serve it with coarse yellow polenta, or cavolo nero, or just a salad of winter leaves and good bread with which to mop up the juices.

Fried egg with sage, chilli and garlicky yoghurt

The combination of garlic, yoghurt and olive oil is compulsive. I use it for a number of dishes, including perfectly ripe sweet tomatoes; with roasted chicken, or just on its own on toast. You could poach the eggs if you prefer, but I think the crispy bits of the fried egg taste particularly good with the brown butter and creamy yoghurt.

Serves 4

240ml good-quality Greek-style yoghurt (thick and only mildly sharp)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Sea salt
50ml extra-virgin olive oil
80g unsalted butter
8 sage leaves
4 very fresh organic free-range eggs
1 red chilli, very finely sliced into rings (seeds left in)

Put the yoghurt into a bowl with the garlic, a good pinch of salt and the extra virgin olive oil. Stir well to combine, taste and add a little more salt if necessary. Set aside to allow the flavours to adjust to each other while you brown the butter.

Place the butter in a non-stick pan along with the sage leaves over a medium heat. Cook, stirring gently, until the butter begins to separate, and then brown. You can strain it to remove the sediment if you like, but I prefer to leave it in. Set aside in a warm place while you cook the eggs.

Place one large (or two small) non-stick frying pan(s) over a medium heat. Add a teaspoon of the browned butter, without the sediment, to each pan. When hot, crack the eggs into the pans and add the chilli. Cook until the whites are firm and the yolks soft. I like to spoon the hot butter over the whites to encourage the eggs to cook more quickly and to flavour them.

To serve, put the garlicky yoghurt onto four plates, lay the eggs on top and scatter over the chilli. Spoon the warm sage butter over the eggs and serve at once.

The Forager by Wendy Fogarty

Petersham's food sourcer on where to find the best garlic...

Garlic is really easy to grow. Late summer, early autumn is the perfect time to be planting for harvest next spring.

The Garlic Farm is a family-run business on the Isle of Wight, and one of the UK's main specialist growers of garlic. Not only do they sell the garlic they produce, they also sell bulbs to grow at home as well as delicious pickles and relishes and some rather nifty gadgets. Tel: 01983 865 378, www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk

Seeds of Italy has a variety of bulbs and garlic condiments Tel: 020 8427 5020, www.seedsofitaly.com

La Fromagerie sells some lovely rose garlic from Toulouse. Tel: 020 7935 0341

The Soil Association has an organic marketplace that features an extensive list of other specialist suppliers of garlic. Tel: 01179 874 607 , www.soulassociation.org