Garlic Confit

The term "confit" is thrown about these days almost as much as the term "steak." But if such culinary powerhouses as Epicurious, TheKitchn, and the New York Times can publish recipes for Cauliflower Steaks, we can publish a post on the smooth, silky magic of Garlic Confit. 

Typically, when people think of confit, they think of duck, or goose, or some other type of meat that has been cooked in its own fat for the purposes of preserving it. It is a pre-refrigeration technique, much like salting or pickling. Only here we are using it to keep garlic, and the fat is olive oil.

Think of it like an easy garlic spread, one that secures all that sweet, fresh garlic flavor without adding the toastiness of roasting. After you've made it, you realize how versatile it can be. Smear it on grilled Italian bread. Toss it into a pot of steamed veggies. Add it to your favorite soup or chili. Rub it under chicken skin before roasting. The tender cloves, as well as the infused oil, have any number of uses, none of which will include the sharp bitterness of raw garlic. Added bonus? It will keep for up to a month in the refrigerator, so go ahead and make a double batch.

Garlic Confit

Ingredients:

1 head of garlic

olive oil, as needed

Separate the cloves of one head of garlic and peel each clove. Cut the root end off of each clove and place them in a small saucepan. Add enough olive oil to cover the cloves by an inch. Set the pan over the lowest possible heat and cook for an hour, until cloves are tender when pierced with a fork (but not brown). Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool, in the oil, for an hour. Pour cloves and oil into a jar, cover with a lid, and keep in the refrigerator up to a month. 

Cast-Iron Roasted Chicken (including how to care for cast-iron)

How could we possibly resist a recipe for roast chicken that promises "crunchy, shiny, mahogany skin?" Frankly, we couldn't. Once we read Melissa Clark's article and recipe (found here), we were off to the store to get a small bird for two. And we may never roast a chicken any other way again.

 

We love to cook over high heat,  and our cast-iron pans are some of our most used kitchen items. We have them in all sizes, thanks to a mom (Amy's) who loves tag sales and bargains. Chris has become an expert at seasoning them, and maintaining that smooth, non-stick, surface that cast-iron is known for.



"Seasoning" is probably the scariest thing about cast-iron, but it shouldn't be. Today's cast-iron pans come pre-seasoned, but some care must be taken in cleaning them. The important thing to remember is to clean your cast-iron with a "paste" of hot water and kosher salt that clears away stuck-on foods. Never use soap or steel wool. Dry the pan right away to avoid rusting. If foods start to stick to the pan more and more often, it needs to be re-seasoned. To do this, apply a tablespoon of oil (vegetable or olive) or lard onto it with a paper towel then bake it at 350 for an hour or so. That's all there is to it!

Organic Spring Garlic from Urban Oaks Farm

Spring Garlic (trimmed)

Sliced Shallots

Capers packed in salt

Now bake to the amazing recipe. We followed Melissa's recipe, although we changed our ingredients to include spring garlic (instead of ramps) and salted capers instead regular capers. We also added sliced shallots (just because) and two red potatoes (diced) to round out our meal (we love our starches). Recipes are only suggestions, after all! Otherwise, we followed her directions very closely, (which (again) can be FOUND HERE), including salting and refrigerating the chicken for 2 hours ahead of time, preheating the skillet for 45 minutes in a very hot (500-degree) oven, and splaying the chicken.

Our ingredients, but add one lemon and some olive oil

The results were exactly as promised - the skin was shiny and crunchy and, if not mahogany, at least golden brown. And talk about evenly cooked! Every last bite was extremely tender and juicy, and the caramelized garlic/onion/potato mixture was full of flavor. One caveat - the oil in the pan splattered a bit in the (very) hot oven so we had a little bit of smoke. Nothing an open window or two won't solve! So even if you think you can't perfect your roasted chicken recipe, or that you don't need yet another one, please try this one. For us, at least, this recipe is The One. Thank you, Melissa Clark!

Golden brown chicken in a cast-iron pan, nearly done

Caramelized garlic, shallots and red potatoes

Roasted Garlic Soup (Secret Recipe Club)

It's February's Secret Recipe Club reveal day! In the Secret Recipe Club, members are assigned a food blog from which we are to choose and make a recipe, then we all blog about it and reveal our posts at the same time. Right now there are 212 members in the SRC; we are divided into four groups so that every Monday is a new reveal day. Since we're in Group C, today is ours, and the blog we were assigned is Heidis Verden (in English, it's "Heidi's World").

Heidi is from Denmark, and she loves to bake breads, cakes, ice creams and other desserts, but she also makes savory dishes of all kinds. Her blog is in Danish, but if you go to the page "Important: For Foreign Visitors!" you can find out how to view it in English (hint: it's much easier if you are using Firefox rather than Internet Explorer). Once we did that, we had a hard time choosing a recipe because there were so many and they all sounded so good. While we really wanted to try one of her ice creams, we thought we'd come back to those when it's a little warmer out. We didn't have a whole lot of time, so we chose not to bake anything. Since it was blustery and cold here, we zoomed in on the soup section and finally decided to make her Roasted Garlic Soup.

The most important ingredient: roasted garlic

We've made a similar recipe with garlic and potatoes, and were curious as to how this one would compare. We made a couple of minor adaptations based on what we had around the house, most importantly substituting madeira for Heidi's preference, sherry. The soup was fantastic, and even better when we had it again for lunch the following day. The texture was light, silky smooth yet it was completely filling and satisfying. The flavors from all of the alliums made it something that could be enjoyed year-round, and the madeira offered a unique hint of sweetness. There was a nice deep flavor that we guess came  from roasting the garlic first. We even surrendered offered a small portion to Joanne who pronounced it "restaurant-worthy." Yeah, even with its garlic-breath side effect, we loved this soup. Thanks, Heidi!

Cook the roasted garlic, onions and leeks...

...until they look like this.

Add flour to thicken the soup.

Stir in the warm broth and madeira wine.

Blend

Swirl in the cream and allow to simmer.

Roasted Garlic Soup

Ingredients:

4 heads garlic

1/4 cup olive oil
4 cups chicken broth

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 leeks, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/3 cup madeira wine

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice

kosher salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut off the top 1/4 inch of each garlic head. Place in a small, shallow baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Bake until golden, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cool slightly. Press the individual garlic cloves between thumb and finger to release, then chop the garlic. Pour the chicken broth into a small saucepan and set over medium heat to warm. In a large saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add garlic, leeks, and onion; saute until onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Gradually add flour, and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in warm broth and madeira. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Puree soup using an immersion blender. Swirl in the cream, then simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with lemon juice, salt and white pepper. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with chives. Serve crusty bread on the side and enjoy.

Guest Post: Garlicky Spinach Soup by Joanne

While we rest on our (teensy weensy) laurels, we invited bestie and fellow blogger Joanne to share her love of soup, in particular, her love of Garlicky Spinach Soup in this guest post.

Joanne writes:

I love soup. (And I love to share soup with Amy, who shares the love!) As much as I experiment with new recipes, there are a few I go back to over and over like this one for garlicky spinach soup.  As you’ll see, it’s beyond easy and requires very few ingredients.

Because it’s so simple, the clear but flavorful broth lends itself to easy variations.  I’ve made it with gyoza and a hint of ginger (very yummy), and plan to try it with rice noodles next. Mushrooms would be a nice addition (though not Amy-approved), and vegetable broth might substitute nicely without chicken as a vegetarian dish.

Modify as you like, but start here with this basic recipe. Enjoy!

Garlicky Spinach Soup

Ingredients:

6 cups chicken broth

4 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced

6 ounces baby spinach

1 cup chicken breast, shredded in bite size pieces (from rotisserie chicken)

pinch sugar

1 tbs butter

1 tbs olive oil

Heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ¼ cup of the broth so that garlic can cook without burning. Add pinch of sugar and let cook 3-4 minutes. Garlic will become very fragrant.

Add remaining broth and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and remove from heat. Add spinach, stirring until just wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add shredded chicken to bowls and pour soup over chicken.

Makes 4 1½ cup servings.

Meatless Monday: Ginger Garlic Bok Choy Pasta

Opening Day at the Coventry Regional Farmers' Market yesterday featured loads of plants and seedlings, perfect for those of us getting started on our summer gardens. We picked up some morning glories to decorate our porch, some lavender to fragrance our bathroom, and some peas and cantaloupe to fill up our vegetable/fruit/berry garden (and, eventually, our bellies!). Soon we'll work on the front garden where we'll plant our herbs and, of course, a nice variety of tomatoes. We're getting there.

That said, there wasn't much by way of produce at the market yesterday. But we did find, and buy, some beautiful red baby bok choy that has become the focus for today's Meatless Monday recipe. We sauteed the bok choy with fresh ginger and garlic using tips and tricks we found at the blog Steamy Kitchen, then we tossed it with pasta for a quick, fresh, light, meatless meal fit for an early summer evening.

First, we carefully trimmed the stem of the bok choy, and separated and rinsed each tender leaf. Then we finely minced two cloves of garlic and grated about two teaspoons of fresh ginger. These we added to a tablespoon of canola oil inside a cold wok (below, left), so nothing would burn and taste bitter. A few red pepper flakes would give the dish some zing!

 

We heated the wok over medium heat and waited for the smell of garlic and ginger cooking (above, right). Then we added the bok choy leaves and quickly tossed them to coat them in the aromatic oil.  

To lightly steam the leaves, we poured in three tablespoons of water, then covered the wok and allowed it to cook for a minute. We carefully tossed our cooked pasta (farfalle tonight) into the wok with the leaves and drizzled our "Ginger Garlic Bok Choy Pasta" with toasted sesame oil to finish it. What a flavorful dish!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 pound baby bok choy, trimmed and rinsed

3 tablespoons water

1/2 pound pasta

kosher salt

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

Boil water for pasta and prepare pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, pour the oil into a cold wok (or large skillet). Add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes to the wok, then turn the heat to medium. When the garlic and ginger become fragrant, stir in the bok choy leaves. Toss quickly but carefully so that all leaves are coated with the oil, about 20 seconds. Pour in the water, cover, and allow to cook for one minute. Toss cooked pasta into the wok, season with salt to taste, and finish with a drizzle of sesame oil.