When is a sandwich not just a sandwich? When you make your own black garlic butter to spread on the artisan baguette, that's when.

Recipe Rosa Matto | Photograph Brendan Homan | Styling Natalie Homan

Baguette with black garlic butter, salame, cheese and cauliflower salad
serves 4-6 depending on the size of your portions

black garlic butter
200g The Dairyman Jersey Cream Butter
1 head black garlic, peeled and mashed
salt flakes

Take the butter out of the fridge for an hour to soften. Flavour is everything, so be sure to use good-quality semi-salted butter.

Incorporate the butter with the black garlic mash and mix it well until it is perfectly smooth. Taste and add salt if necessary. Roll into a thick sausage, approx 4cm x 16cm. Tip the garlic butter onto a square of baking paper and roll it around the butter to tighten the sausage shape, then twist the ends to seal. Refrigerate until needed.

rocket oil
1 large bunch tender rocket leaves
1 tbsp lemon juice
250ml extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Add rocket to a large saucepan of salted boiling water and cook for 30 seconds, drain and plunge in a bowl of cold water from the fridge. Drain and gently squeeze excess water from rocket. Process blanched rocket and lemon juice in a food processor until finely chopped, then, with the motor running, gradually add olive oil and process. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then transfer mixture to a small jug and leave for 20 minutes. Strain through a very fine sieve, adding a little pressure to extract a little more flavour.

cauliflower salad
½ cauliflower, broken into florets
2 tbsp olive oil
lemon zest
1 small golden shallot, very finely chopped
10 stems parsley, leaves only, chopped
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
½ tsp honey
salt and pepper
50g tender, smallest leaves rocket

Lightly blanch the cauliflower in salted water until just tender. Drain. Cool under cold running water and drain well. Toss the cauliflower with the olive oil, zest, shallot and parsley. Mix the vinegar and honey with salt and pepper. Stir the dressing into the cauliflower and add the rocket.

to assemble
baguette from The Lost Loaf, Plant 4, Bowden
extra rocket leaves
200g Section 28 Tomme du Vallée cheese, sliced
200g Section 28 Monte Rosso cheese, sliced
200g Parma Handcrafted Cured Meat porcinello salame, sliced 

Cut the baguette in half lengthways and butter both sides generously with the black garlic butter. Drizzle both sides generously with rocket oil. Put down one layer of salame slices, cover these with one of the cheeses. Top with half the extra rocket leaves. Load up the cauliflower salad and top with the second cheese and finish with another generous layer of salame slices. Top with the bread.

 

This recipe first appeared in the September 2020 issue of SALIFE magazine.