Garlic Confit

Recipe 3 minPreparation Time 2 hoursCooking Time

Garlic Confit

3 minPreparation Time 2 hours Cooking Time

About this Recipe

This easy preparation is wonderful not just for the meltingly tender, golden brown cloves — which spread like butter on crusty bread or enrich almost any dish — but for the oil that’s left after you’ve eaten them all. Use it in vinaigrettes, sauces, marinades, or just drizzle it on more of that bread. This recipe is eminently scalable — use 1/2 cup (120 ml) of olive oil for every head of garlic.

The Benefits

Garlic and olive oil are justly renowned for their innumerable health benefits, so this combination is both delicious and salubrious.

Ingredients

Serves 4 to 6

Cloves from 1 head of garlic (peeled, root ends trimmed)
1/2 cup (120 ml) olive oil

Directions

Step 1

Heat your oven to 250˚F/120˚C. Put the garlic in an ovenproof pan, ramekin, or casserole large enough to easily hold it and pour the oil over; it should cover the garlic. If you need more oil, add it. Cook the garlic for 2 hours or until nicely golden and meltingly tender. Transfer the garlic and oil to a jar, making sure the garlic remains submerged, and store it in the fridge for up to 2 months.

Substitutions: If you like, try adding a dried red chile or two to the oil before cooking the garlic, and/or maybe a sprig of thyme or rosemary, or a bay leaf, or all of the above. Other flavor combinations (ginger, cinnamon stick, clove, and star anise, for example) could easily pull this from the Mediterranean to Asia depending on how you want to use the garlic and oil.

Try It With: Paella, Pa Amb Tomàquet

Zero Waste: Don’t waste a drop of the gorgeous garlic oil!