Aglione cream: what it is and how to use it

Aglione cream was born of a practical problem: fresh aglione is seasonal, and the season ends. Cooking it slowly and putting it in a jar was how Valdichiana families carried the harvest forward. What began as a necessity turned out to be an ingredient in its own right.

What is inside

Not much: aglione, extra virgin olive oil, cream, butter and vegetable stock. No flavourings, no thickeners. The velvety texture comes from the slow cooking, which breaks the cloves down without scorching them.

The jar holds 100 grams, and that is a considered amount: enough for four portions of pasta, used up within a few days of opening, with no leftovers ageing in the fridge.

Why it is not simply "spreadable garlic"

Cooking ordinary garlic for a long time does sweeten it, true, but it stays recognisable and tends to dominate. Aglione starts out sweet: the cooking is not there to correct anything, only to make what is already there creamy. The result is an ingredient you can use generously without the dish becoming "the garlic dish".

Six ways to use it

On pasta, cooking nothing. A spoonful into the drained pan, a ladle of cooking water, stir. With pici it is the most honest ten-minute dinner there is.

In fillings. Mixed into ricotta for tortelli and ravioli: it gives depth where usually only nutmeg goes.

Under white meat. A film on the base of the plate, the roast chicken or rabbit on top. The cooking juices bind with the cream and become a sauce without your having made a sauce.

With fish. It sounds risky and is not: a steamed sea bass fillet on a spoonful of cream works precisely because aglione does not cover the fish.

On roasted vegetables. Courgettes, aubergines, peppers: still hot, with the cream melting over them.

On bread, and nothing else. The sternest test, because there is nothing to hide behind.

Its greener sister

Alongside the bulb cream there is the Aglione Shoot Cream, made with the spring shoots. It is greener, less round, with a vegetal note closer to asparagus. Where the first accompanies, the second makes itself heard.

If you have to pick one to start with, take the Aglione Cream: it is the one that fits more things.