Discover a new way to consume garlic: Confit Garlic. Cooked slowly to perfection with olive oil and herbs, resulting in soft and spreadable cloves, and a Garlic & Herb infused oil as a bonus.
Vegan | Gluten-free | Soy-free
If you love garlic as much as I do, this recipe is for you!
The first time I tried garlic confit was last year when I collaborated with Silk on a video filmed in Frutos del Guacabo. I have to admit, I had never heard about it before but I was intrigued. “Garlic? Sign me up!”, a new way to consume garlic sounded like a dream, and it was!
We were amazed by all of their fresh and sustainable products, but I couldn’t get the confited garlic off my mind. By the end of production, I knew that we couldn’t leave without our own jar, so we headed to their store and took 2 jars home.
We somehow managed to put the confited garlic everywhere, it was like we couldn’t get enough of it! I kid you not, within weeks we ran out. Ever since then, I’ve dreamed about making my own.
Two weeks ago my grandmother dropped by with a huge bowl of pre-peeled garlic cloves, and I instantly knew what to make of it, Confit Garlic. I had it all, a huge jug of olive oil, fresh rosemary, and thyme from our garden. It was literally the perfect timing!
The Making of: Confit Garlic
First of all, what is confit? Confit is two things: a cooking method where you cook something for a very long time, and a food preservation method where after cooking something for a very long time, it can be stored for an even longer time.
Confit garlic is both of those things, while simultaneously providing a garlic-infused olive oil that you can use for just about any savory dish. This is one of my favorite ways to enhance the flavors of my dishes. We literally put it on everything, and hopefully, you’ll love it just as much that you do too.
To confit the garlic, you only need three/four ingredients: 40-50 garlic cloves, a generous amount of olive oil, and some herbs such as rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, tarragon, etc. For my version, I choose rosemary & thyme, as I believe that they pair perfectly with garlic and olive oil.
For cooking, all you need to do is add the ingredients to a medium-sized pot with a lid. Then you’ll cook the garlic to low heat (160F ideally) and for about 2 hours, allowing the oil to slightly bubble but not to smoke at any time during the process. It’s a slow cooking process, but it’s not hands-on. This is the type of recipe that will cook itself and you can carry on with any other task that you need to do.
The heat and time will create a real delicacy that’s tasty, healthy, and practical. You’ll notice that the garlic loses all its pungent strength and becomes creamy and soft, which makes it ideal for spreads, sauces, and sautees.
And that’s it, you have your garlic confit to give extra flavor to any recipe you prepare that includes this ingredient. For storing, you can either place it all in a big jar or you can divide the garlic and oil as I did; one for preserving and the other to easily drizzle the oil. In any case, the garlic will last a long time in perfect condition if you keep them always covered with oil.
Where can you use garlic confit:
- Garlic bread
- To make any type of cashew cream sauce; nacho cheese, alfredo, sour cream, etc.
- Vegetable purees
- Different pasta recipes
- As a garnish for tofu, vegan sausages, mushroom steaks, etc.
- Salads
- Burgers
- For stews and soups
Where to use the oil from the garlic confit:
- Salad dressings
- To roast veggies
- Baked potatoes
- Stir-fries
- On steamed veggies
- Caramelized onions
- Croutons
Notes:
- This recipe calls for 40-50 garlic cloves! Save yourself the peeling time (and your fingers), and buy pre-peeled garlic.
- I recommend using 2 cups of olive oil as a standard measure. However, you may need more or less depending on the size of the garlic cloves. Either way, it’s imperative to use enough oil to cover the garlic cloves.
- With the leftover oil at the end, save it in a glass bottle and use it as a garlic-infused olive oil for cooking!
- Additionally, you could blend the cloves (without the oil) in the food processor to make garlic paste.
- For storing, it’s best to keep the jar out of direct heat and sunlight.
Ingredients
Procedure
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