Tuesday Tip – Garlic Infused Olive Oil

There are a number of ideas that I have wanted to try, or more correctly stated, get around to doing.  One is different butters with other ingredients mixed in.  And the one that I have wanted to do, and have done here, is to infuse olive oil.  The great thing about infusing oil is what you get to use the infused oil on.  You will have to check back when I post my parmesan potatoes topped with garlic infused oil.  “They were to die for.”   Where did this expression come from anyways?  Would you really die to eat something?  It would be the last thing you ever eat.

Back to the Tuesday Tip – Garlic Infused Olive oil; by adding additional flavor to oil, you have a great opportunity to add more flavors to your recipe.  This first step into infusing olive oil is a simple one and useful one.  Garlic adds such a good and useful flavor and this was pretty darn easy to execute.  Heat oil; add whole garlic; cook for 20 minutes or so; remove garlic; strain oil and you got it!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup olive oil
• 2 whole bulbs of garlic

Directions:

Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat.  I started the pan on medium high heat and that is a little high.  You want to get your oil to just the simmering level and then pull the heat back.

Drop in the whole garlic bulbs and cook until the garlic browns.  I used a shallow pan, so I was turning over the garlic to get the whole garlic browned.

This process took about 20 minutes.  When complete, remove the garlic.  As a total aside, to use the garlic, cut the top off the bulb.

You can then squeeze out the softened garlic and do so many things with it – add it to a dressing or spread it on a bread.  Back to the oil.  Pour the oil through a strainer to make sure nothing has been left behind in the oil.  Now you have your Tuesday Tip – garlic infused olive oil.  So many things to do with this oil, and as noted above, you will have to come back to find the first use.

 

Enjoy!