Roasted garlic & yoghurt sauce

METHOD

Yoghurt sneaks its way into Middle Eastern food time and again, providing a lovely sourness and cooling foil to the hotter spices we cook with. Here it’s part of the main act, mixed with sweet roasted garlic to create a deliciously moreish, catch-all sauce. It’s an ace dip to accompany mezze but is also fabulous dolloped generously over spiced meat and fish dishes.

It’s particularly good with the One-Pot Fast Roast Chicken recipe (page 96). For big parties I make a huge batch at home, using about five heads of garlic baked in an ovenproof dish with foil on the top.

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.

Put the garlic in the middle of a piece of tin foil, just big enough to cover the bulb. Pour 1 tablespoon of oil over the bulb, then pour in 50ml water.

Wrap the foil around the bulb tightly and put on a baking sheet, then bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes (depending on the size of the garlic bulb) or until the garlic is soft and tender. To check, unwrap and push the point of a sharp knife into one of the cloves.

Cut the end off the garlic bulb and peel away all the paper. Put all the exposed garlic into a mini food processor. Add the yoghurt and tahini and whizz until the mixture is smooth and has emulsified. Season with a good squeeze of lemon juice and a good pinch of salt.

MY SECRET

if you slice the top third off the garlic bulb and pick out the raw peeled tops, they make a great pickle. For every 100g of raw garlic, mix with 100ml water, 1 tablespoon of apple cider, 3 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses and 1 teaspoon of salt and simmer till slightly tender. It’s best stored in the fridge and eaten cold.