Garlic Confit (Whole 30)

After 6 months at my new job I am still finding new reasons to love my job. Early last week, I was told I have 56 hours of vacation to use before the end of the year. First of all, how did that happen? I have only been there since april. How did I get all that vacation time? Every other job I have had I had to be there a year before I got any vacation time. I was really excited because I need a vacation.

Second of all, they expect me to take every minute of it. All I had to do was enter it in the system and, two seconds later it was all approved.

At my old job, they automatically refused all requests for vacation or time off. You had to get with your manager and beg for they time off which you earned and would still frequently turn you down. It was frustrating and not right. I am so glad that place isn’t my problem any more.

So what is confit (pronounced kon fee)? Confit is, basically, anything cooked at a low temperature while covered in some kind of fat. This style of cooking renders the food so soft and succulent and, in the case of garlic confit, leaves you with a lovely garlic infused olive oil. So what do I use garlc confit for? Well, just about any form of savory cooking I do in a day. I use both the oil and garlic when I fry eggs, saute vegetables, make salad dressings. I smear a couple cloves on my toast, add cloves to soup and sauces. The possibilities are pretty near limitless.

I am going to be honest with you. This not a cheap recipe to make with all that olive oil but it keeps up to two months in the fridge so you have plenty of time to is every drop of oil and every clove of garlic.

Garlic Confit

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

From The No Crumbs Left Cookbook

4 cups peeled garlic cloves

3 cups extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

2 sprigs rosemary

2 bay leaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium baking pan with sides, spread the garlic out evenly. Cover the garlic with olive oil, making sure every clove is covered with oil. Tuck the basil leaves, rosemary sprigs and bay leaves among the garlic cloves.

Bake tbe garlic for 35 minutes or until soft and light brown. Turn off the oven and open the oven door, let the garlic and oil cool to room temperature. The original instructions said to remove the pan from the oven but I really don’t want 350 degree oil pouring over my hands. Once the garlic is completely cool, store it in a glass jar, making sure the cloves are completely covered in oil. Store in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.