Garlic Confit with Herbs

I grow garlic in my garden–lots of it, sometimes too much for Dan and I.  The original recipe solved the problem of how to preserve the bulbs in an interesting, tasty, and useful way.  It is a an easy recipe and doesn’t even require peeling the “toes.”  FYI: The word, “confit,” comes from the French verb, confire, which means to preserve. A confit is a slow roasting method of preservation. The most well-known example is probably the duck confit.

You can use the finished product wherever you use garlic–on garlic bread, bruschetta, under a roasting chicken skin, in stir fry, and so on. The olive oil becomes infused with the herbs and garlic and is delish drizzled over mozzarella and olives or on toasted French or Italian bread.

I found this recipe originally on the Bon Appetit site, but I quickly discovered that the proportion of olive oil to garlic bulbs was off, so here is my corrected and  “massaged” version.

Garlic Confit with Herbs

1 1/2 cups garlic toes (approx), separated with peels left on

*Four 4 inch long sprigs of rosemary and 2 large bay leaves

1 1/2 cups very good extra virgin olive oil.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Put garlic toes on the bottom of an oven save baking dish. Pour olive oil over the top of the garlic. Lay the herbs on the top. Cover (use aluminum foil if your dish doesn’t come with a cover, but it is important to keep covered). Bake for 60 minutes. Check to see if garlic is soft. You should try to squeeze a toe out of its peel. If it is soft, it is finish.  If it isn’t quite finish, bake for 15 minutes more.

Put into jars with tight fitting covers and refrigerate when cool. I divide it into two 1-cup  jars so that when I use it, I don’t have to expose all of it to air.  The oil will congeal in the fridge, so you will have to warm it up when you go to use it or scoop out what you need and warm up that portion.

*You may use other herbs or combinations of herbs like oregano, thyme, or summer savory. It is up to your own tastes. Although I love it, I stay away from basil because it doesn’t stand up very well to this preserving method and long refrigeration..