Garlic confit recipe and five ways to use it

It may sound fancy and French, but garlic confit (pronounced con-fee) is simply garlic simmered in olive oil. Make your own and use it to enrich sauces, pastas, pizzas and more.

If you like garlic, then you will love this easy confit recipe. The garlic, which is cooked low and slow in flavorful olive oil, mellows and sweetens much as it does when roasted. You can make a big batch at once and keep it stored in a tightly closed glass jar in your fridge for up to a week. Here are some ideas for how to put it to good use:

1. Top pizza with a few cloves of garlic confit to instantly kick it up a notch.
2. Throw some garlic confit along with a drizzle of the oil in sauces or on its own on pasta.
3. Add garlic confit and a bit of the oil to mashed potatoes for quick garlic mashed potatoes.
4. Drizzle slices of toasted baguette with the oil from the garlic confit and top with lightly mashed cloves of garlic confit for a quick and elegant version of garlic bread.
5. Puree it into dips and spreads for extra flavor or chop it up and add garlic confit to guacamole to bring it to the next level.

Garlic confit recipe

Yields 35 to 40 cloves

Ingredients:

• 1 cup olive oil*
• 35-40 cloves fresh garlic (about 1-1/2 heads)
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil in small saucepan over medium-low heat.
2. Add garlic; cook over very low heat until soft, about one hour, being careful not to brown.
3. Keep covered in oil in a clean, covered jar in the fridge for up to one month. Always use a clean spoon to remove garlic.

*Note: The recipe is easily scaled up or down and depends in part on the size of your pot. You basically want enough oil to just cover the garlic cloves.

More garlic recipes

Grilled filet mignon with garlic confit cloves and red wine reduction sauce
50-clove garlic soup recipe
Vampire repellent garlic cheese biscuits