la fête del l'ail

	Native to Asia, garlic has been cultivated by the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and the ancient Persians and Chinese. Today it is grown in warm climates all over the world. There are many varieties:
some with bulbs of white skin, others with pink, purple or light green and is now available dried all year round but fresh only in July and August. Good garlic is hard and the cloves are not shrinking from the skin Discard any bulbs that show discoloration but most important, enjoy the feast of the fresh bulbs in the summer.

Garlic is good for you! It contains antiseptic qualities which aid digestion and reduce blood pressure and forms an essential part of the Mediterranean diet. Roman soldiers ate raw garlic before a battle and mariners always had plenty in the ship's stores. Consumption of garlic in England was greater at the turn of the last century than today! And that pungent aroma, for which it is rightly famous, is considerably reduced by cooking, eating parsley or, apparently, drinking red wine.

At Francs, during the summer months of July and August the succulent bulbs of fresh garlic make their way into as many dishes as we can realistically pop them into.

THE BASICS: To peel a clove, simply whack it with the side of a heavy knife and the skin will fall away. To introduce a mild flavour to a salad dressing rub the bowl with a cut clove before adding the dressing and salad ingredients. Raw garlic can also be mixed with butter, oil and vinegars or made into a paste by mashing it with salt.

Pintade a l'Ail
This is the most wonderful summer time treat; the new season garlic bulbs simply melt to give a rich, intense sauce scented with the unmistakable summer aroma of fresh basil. The contrasting crunchy caramelised taste of the roasted whole cloves is truly delicious. What a way to feast on those beautiful violet-tinted bulbs...

Serves 3-4

• 1 large guinea fowl
  
• 4 whole heads of new season garlic,
  half left in their skin
  
• Salt and pepper
  
• ½ litre dry white wine
  
• bunch fresh basil
  
• 250gm crème fraîche
  
• 2oz butter
  
• 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig of thyme

Season the bird well inside and out with salt and pepper, and stuff with the peeled half of the garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Brown the guinea fowl in a frying pan in the butter, then transfer to a roasting tin, breast down. Pour over the wine and pop into a medium oven for about 30 minutes, or until the bird takes colour. Add the remaining unpeeled garlic, turn the guinea fowl onto its back, baste and continue to roast for approx 1 hour.

When the bird is cooked, remove it and the roasted, unpeeled garlic onto a warm serving dish. Add the remaining wine to the roasting tin along with the garlic cloves from inside the bird, reduce the cooking liquor by half, add the crème fraîche and basil, return to the heat and cook the sauce until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Blend the sauce season to taste and strain over the dish.