Herby Garlic Bread

Garlic bread is a tasty alternative to bread rolls served with soup.

Garlic spread can be used for lots of other dishes too. Add to grilled mushrooms, new potatoes or your favourite seasonal vegetables, stir into mashed potatoes or put it on top of a steak. You only need to use a little to add extra flavour!

Ingredients

75g unsaturated fat spread
2 x 5ml spoons dried mixed herbs OR 20g bunch fresh herbs (use any combination of parsley, basil, thyme, coriander, sage, rosemary, tarragon or chives)
3 cloves garlic
1 small lemon (juice only)
Ground black pepper
1 large French baguette
OR 2 small ‘ready to cook’
OR ‘part-baked’ baguettes

Equipment

Weighing scales
Mixing bowl
Colander
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Scissors (optional)
Garlic crusher
Juice squeezer
Wooden spoon
Bread knife
Table knife
Aluminium foil
Baking tray
Oven gloves
Pan stand

Instructions

1. Take the spread out of the fridge in advance, so that it is at room temperature before you start.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan or gas mark 4.
3. Put the spread in the mixing bowl.
4. Wash the herbs and remove any of the hard, woody stems before finely chopping (use scissors if you find it easier). Add the chopped herbs to the spread.
5. Peel and crush the garlic and add to the bowl.
6. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze all the juice into the spread mixture.
7. Add black pepper to taste and give it a really good stir.
8. Cut off the ends of the baguette and slice into 4 pieces. Cut each piece in half lengthways.
9. Spread the flat side of the bread with garlic spread.
10. Tear off 8 pieces of aluminium foil, each a bit wider than the bread. Lay each piece of bread in its own foil and pull up the edges so it makes a ‘basket’ for the bread. This will stop any spread from leaking all over the oven and because it is open at the top,
    the bread will not go soggy.
11. Put the garlic bread onto a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. If you are using the partbaked baguettes, they will take 15 minutes to cook.

Top Tips

• French bread will only stay fresh the day you buy it, but the ‘ready to bake’ ones last for a couple of months if unopened.
• If you are just going to use one herb, parsley is the best. Otherwise, use as many as you can find.

Something to try next time

• Why not mix 1 x 15ml spoon of Hey Pesto! into the garlic spread for an Italian flavour? See the recipe for Hey Pesto! here.
• Spread a pizza base with a little soft garlic spread before cooking.
• You could use your garlic spread to rub over a chicken before roasting it in the oven.
• Roll up your garlic spread in clingfilm to make a sausage shape and put in the freezer for up to 1 month. Then cut off a very thin slice when you want it to add to new potatoes, grilled mushrooms, steak or mashed potato.

Prepare now, eat later

• The garlic spread will last in the fridge for up to 1 week or a month in the freezer, so you can make it in advance.
• To freeze the garlic bread, follow the recipe to Step 10 and wrap the parcels completely in foil. Freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost and open the foil before baking in the oven.