Garlic Olive Oil
Whenever I cook Spanish or Italian food, I always start by making a batch of Garlic Oil………..in fact, I use it so often that I usually have some on hand in the fridge. A good place to buy Garlic is at the ethnic stores……….especially Korean. Warning! I have been doing this for many years without a problem but a fellow chef once asked me about it and
when I told her that I sometimes have it around for more than a week, she picked up a whisk and beat me severely all about the head and shoulders.
It turns out that if you don’t include some kind of magic potion (e.g. acid) in the oil, the Garlic can grow Clostridium botulinum which is very evil and may cause much unpleasantness………….. like death.
Therefore, you should keep it refrigerated and use it within a week.
If you still have some after a week, you can use it to clean, oil and cure your Bar-B-Que grill, iron skillets and pans, Paella Pans and such. Also you can pour it on wood for smoking meat and fish or just wood in the fireplace and it will make it burn better.
My Garlic doesn’t hang around very long. Ingredients:
1. Plenty of Garlic………20-30 big fat cloves Note: The purple (Italian) kind often has the fattest cloves but it can be harder to peel that the white.
2. Olive oil 3. A can of anything to smack the cloves 4. Chiles………….optional
5. Or any Herbs that you might like to flavor it with
Peel a big pile of cloves and smack the piwacky out of them with a can of something…………hit them real hard! The edge of the can will prevent turning them to paste.
This will make the peeling slip off easily.
Roughly chop them………not too small. The itty bitty pieces will cook too fast so you don’t want too many of those. They will cause a burned taste.
Scoot them off into a nice green pan……..or any kind of pan if you don’t have a green one.
Pour in a cup, or two, or three, depending upon how much you need at the time……..or if you want to have some extra on hand later.
Cook all on low bubble until the Garlic just begins to brown only the slightest bit. If it browns too much, it will taste bitter or burned and you will have to throw the whole thing over into your neighbor’s yard and have to start over.
Take it off the fire and set it out on the patio to cool.
Sometimes I add a few Chiles……….but be careful, not too many (especially if they are hot). Sometimes I add a few small, sweet bell pieces but don’t use many or they will dominate the flavor of the whole mess.
I often use New Mexico Green Chilies. These are red because that’s how they sell them in Ristras but they were green first.
Just peel off and clean a little of the skin. As much as I love Chiles, I have to be careful now because I have GERD……………too hot is taboo. It’s up to you about hot but remember your guests………..especially the old poots like me.
Finally, when it’s cooled down, dump or funnel it all into an appropriate sized jar or bottle and later you can use just whatever amount you need for whatever you’re cooking………or marinating.
In the picture at the top there is a can of Garlic Oil that's already made and sometimes you can find it like this…………..I like this brand. It’s called Tuscan Sun. I think this company makes it but I can’t figure out their website: http://sovenausa.com/ [email protected]
