The bulb and the beautiful: four show

Butter, bread, confit and a cheesy potato bake – all with ample allium. In these recipes by cook Daen Lia, more garlic is more

No matter what I serve this with, it always steals the show. I might have spent all day making pasta with a slow-cooked sauce, but it will go untouched if this garlic bread is on the dinner table. It’s also packed with mozzarella – when baked, the mozzarella melts into the bread and oozes out when pulled apart.

Serves 4

1 ciabatta loaf120g roasted garlic herb butter (recipe below)75g (½ cup) grated mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan.

Using a sharp knife, cut deep slits into the ciabatta roughly 5cm apart, ensuring you do not cut the whole way through. Spoon one tablespoon of the butter and a sprinkling of the mozzarella into each slit. Wrap the ciabatta in foil and place on a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further five minutes or until golden and crispy on top and the cheese is bubbling.

Pull the bread apart and serve immediately.

This garlic butter uses four whole bulbs of garlic – yes, that’s bulbs not cloves – that have been roasted to caramelised perfection. No matter what you use this garlic butter in – the cheesy garlic bread above, roast chicken, stuffed crumbed chicken – you will find yourself asking for more.

Makes 400-450g

4 garlic bulbs2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil250g salted butter, at room temperature, chopped40g (about 1 bunch) flat-leaf parsley40g parmesan, grated

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan.

Using a sharp knife, slice the top off the garlic bulb, about 2-3cm from the top, to expose the raw cloves. Place the bulbs on to a large sheet of foil and drizzle with the olive oil. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper, then wrap the bulbs with the foil. Bake for one hour.

Leave the garlic to cool slightly until you are able to handle it. Using your fingers, squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

In a food processor, place the roasted garlic, butter, parsley, parmesan and a pinch of salt and pepper. Blitz until all the ingredients are smooth and well combined.

Scoop the butter on to a large piece of baking paper and roll into a tight log. Store in the fridge for several weeks – or use it in the garlic bread recipe above.

When garlic is slow-cooked in olive oil, something magical happens.

It becomes soft and velvety, melts at the slightest touch of a knife and its flavour becomes mild, buttery and sweet. You can use it and the garlic-infused olive oil in anything and everything, from salad dressings and pasta sauces to roasts – and even puff pastry.

Makes 1 × 250ml jar

6 garlic bulbsAromatics such as 4 thyme sprigs or 2 rosemary sprigs, strips of lemon peel from 1 lemon, 1 tablespoon black peppercorns750ml (3 cups) extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 130C/110C fan.

Separate all the cloves from the garlic bulbs and place in a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water for five minutes, then drain. The skins will become loose and easy to peel off.

Place the garlic cloves, a generous amount of salt and the aromatics of your choice (if using) in an ovenproof dish and cover with the olive oil.

It’s important that the garlic is fully submerged in the olive oil so it does not burn. Roast for two hours. There will be a slight bubble to the oil while it cooks.

Allow to cool, then store the garlic with the oil in an airtight container or jar in the fridge and consume within one to two weeks.

How can you go wrong with silky mashed potatoes with lots of butter and garlic confit whipped through? To make them even better, after a hefty amount of cheese has been grated on top, the mashed potatoes are popped under the grill until golden and bubbling.

Serves 4

1kg sebago potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters40 garlic confit cloves (recipe above)150g butter, cut into small cubes 250ml (1 cup) full-cream milk, warmed 2 tbsp grated parmesanFinely snipped fresh chives, to serve

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with cold water and leave to sit for a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of four hours. Drain the potatoes and rinse under cold water. Return to the pan and cover with cold water, along with a generous amount of salt (roughly two tablespoons). Bring to the boil over high heat, then cook the potatoes for 15 minutes or until soft – a skewer or knife should be able to go through them with no resistance.

Drain the potatoes in a colander and cover with a tea towel. (This will allow the potatoes to steam and remove as much moisture as possible.) Leave to sit for 15 minutes.

Mash the garlic confit cloves with a fork and set aside. Preheat the oven grill to high.

Over a large saucepan, pass the potatoes through a potato ricer or push through a fine-mesh sieve. In two batches, stir the garlic confit and two-thirds of the butter through the potato mash with a spatula, until smooth and blended. Gradually incorporate the milk until you have a smooth consistency.

Place the potato mash in an ovenproof dish. Scatter the remaining cubes of butter on top and poke them into the mash so only the tops of the butter is exposed. Sprinkle with the parmesan, then place under the grill for seven minutes or until golden on top.

Sprinkle with chives and serve immediately.

This is an edited extract from Garlic, Olive Oil + Everything Else by Daen Lia, photography by Armelle Habib, available on 29 August through Plum (RRP $29.99).