10 Little Things #1: Garlic Confit

Good morning Foogers,

Today is the super-exciting world premiere of 10 Little Things.  This one is so great and so simple, I thought it would make a great choice to illustrate what this is all about.  Each day I'll bring you something so simple and easy but so great and versatile that you'll probably find a hundred ways to use it, but I'll start you off with 10.

When made into confit, garlic becomes mellow and
meltingly tender.

Garlic Confit is today's very easy, inexpensive and blissfully delicious gem.  Confit refers to the technique of cooking an item in fat of some kind.  Duck Confit is of course duck legs slowly cooked in duck fat.  Garlic confit is whole, peeled cloves of garlic cooked in oil.  Roasted garlic is great, but garlic confit is even better.  Why?  Because you get all the soft, sweet, mellow golden-roasty tasting loveliness of slow-cooked garlic, but you are also left with all the tasty oil that it is cooked in to use in myriad ways.  We'll start with the recipe.

Garlic Confit

-2 cups of whole peeled garlic cloves. (If you can find them already peeled, and it isn't GMO or imported thousands of miles from Asia, by all means do so.  Peeling garlic is also a great job for grounded children.)
-1 cup olive oil
-1/2 cup canola oil
-zest of one lemon
-3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
-1 bay leaf

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place peeled garlic in a glass dish (a loaf pan works well).  Cover with the oils, and add the zest, thyme, and bay leaf.  Cover pan with foil.  Place in oven and bake for 1 hour, or until the cloves are soft and golden.  Remove from oven and allow to sit at room temperature until cooled. Remove and discard thyme branches.

Now the fun part.

10 Little Things to Do with Garlic Confit


1.  Mash the cloves in with potatoes, a scraping of fresh nutmeg, and butter;
2.  Toss with hot pasta, fresh tomatoes cut into chunks, a drizzle of the garlic oil, lots of chopped parsley, and fresh Romano;
3.  Put the whole cloves on pizza, along with artichokes and fresh arugula;
4.  Use the oil to saute fresh rapini, toss with pine nuts and a few of the cloves.  Serve with polenta;
5.  Mash the cloves into a paste.  Press into a pretty ramekin and serve with fresh bread and olives;
6.  Drizzle the oil over tomatoes, roast in the oven, and serve as a condiment with mac and cheese;
7.  Use instead of raw garlic in hummus and baba ghanouj
8.  Use the mashed cloves spread on panini.  Try grilled eggplant, basil leaves, and provolone.
9.  Use cloves as a garnish for soups, especially creamy potato or celeriac purees.  Drizzle the oil too.
10.  Garlic Confit Vinaigrette.  Use a mortar and pestle to mash a few cloves with a small amount of Dijon mustard, a splash of vinegar, and a squeeze of lemon.  Stir while drizzling in some of the garlic oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve with a simple frisee salad.

Once you've tried this, you may find it's one of those staples you just can't live without.

Happy Thursday,
Kelly.