If you like Garlic, seriously, try this.

I've seen lots of recipes lately that use a whole bulb of garlic, where you slice the top off, add a little olive oil and salt, wrap in foil and roast it in the oven. You get an amazing flavour, quite quickly. However, the garlic can start to caramelise and even burn if you're not careful.yiu can also end up wasting a lot, squeezing it out of the skin.

So to avoid that, peel the garlic beforehand.



This is 4 bulbs worth, if you have the patience, peel 10+ bulbs! You won't regret it.

Cover with olive oil, I'm not bothering with extra virgin, just plain "Il Casolare" olive oil. It's wonderful stuff, although it's about GBP10 for a litre.

Next, sprinkle in your seasoning. Because I love Italian food, I've gone for Oregano and some smoked sea salt.

Rosemary/Thyme would work just as well, or you can leave it plain if you prefer.



Preheat the oven to 100*c - yes, we're doing confit, so it's low and slow.

Cover the dish with foil and pop it in the oven for 2 hours. You can go a bit longer than that, but I've found 2 hours to be enough to make the garlic really soft.

I've got a batch in the oven now, so I'll post more on this once it's done!

I absolutely love garlic confit - so good and a fridge staple in my house. I usually go for equal parts butter and any neutral mono unsaturated oil I have around. I have never made it with smoked salt (which I have alot of) though. Will have to give that a go - sounds dee-lish.

After 2 hours, I turned the oven off and let it slowly cool down overnight.

I woke up this morning and took it out of the oven, removed the foil, and was greeted by this:



*drooling intensifies* [drooling-face]

The smell is incredible, and I'll shortly be separating the oil off and making a paste with the rest.

I might also try a clove or two spread directly on toast...!

And the end result after separation and blending is...



Ta-daaaaa!

Very nice - Two fantastic products.

My typical application of confit is after the cooking process is completed, I whirl the butter/oil/garlic confit in a blender (while still warm) and emulsify. I then pour the mixture into a tub and that goes into the fridge to chill. The end result is a buttery roast garlic blend that is spreadable (and sticky) like peanut butter because of the mono unsaturated fat ... and yes, I put it on/in absolutely everything. It is very handy in this form- a myriad of uses.

love the jelly jars BTW. I use them for everything. sizes 4-8-16-32 oz & wide collar.