Smoked Garlic Confit
Such a simple thing to make with a huge whack of flavour that makes a great addition to all kinds of dishes. My favourite way to use garlic confit though is to mash the resulting soft, tender, aromatic cloves up and use on pizza bases for a simple but delicious garlic pizza. Just a sprinkle of Maldon salt and a few herbs and you are in pizza heaven.
You can cook this in a low oven, a very gentle poach on the hob or even better is to use a smoker to add an extra layer of woodsmoke flavour. It’s crucial to cook at a low temperature however you decide to cook or the garlic will brown and turn bitter.
Once cooked, put the garlic and enough oil to cover in a jar and it will keep in the fridge for a week or so. Reserve any surplus oil to use separately.
INGREDIENTS
2 bulbs of garlic
enough olive oil to cover
sprig or two fresh rosemary or thyme (or both)
a few peppercorns
2 bay leaves
METHOD
split the garlic bulbs into cloves and peel each one
add to an overproof dish with the herbs and peppercorns
pour in enough olive oil to submerge
set on a smoker at 110C for around an hour until garlic is soft and tender
Your garlic confit can be used many ways. Here are a few ideas to kick you off:
spread onto pizza for best garlic pizza ever
stirred into pasta sauces
stirred into soup
use the infused oil in salad dressing
whip into dips such as hummous