I feel like I haven’t written a new blog post in years but it’s really only been a week. John and I recently went to New Orleans and instead of trying to balance writing while traveling or getting it done before we left, I decided to take a little ‘spring break’ from the blog. Sometimes breaks are necessary. I LOVE writing this blog but a little time away does a body good. I’m getting back into the swing of things with a really easy recipe: garlic confit toast. Does it sound difficult? Because you’ll jump for joy at how easy it is (it also makes a wonderful appetizer or accompaniment to any meal).
So what does confit mean?
Well, it’s a French word – obviously. The French make everything sound cool, right? Anyway, the word ‘confit’ originates from the word confire which means to preserve. That’s exactly what you’re doing when you confit something. A lot of times, confit is used in the context of meat. You’ve probably seen duck confit on a menu before.
Basically when you confit meat (or anything for that matter), you’re preserving it without refrigeration and it’s preserved in its own fat. When you confit veggies, you can preserve them in olive oil or something like duck fat. According to the Michelin Guide, the method of food preservation dates back to prehistoric times and was used mostly in winter months.
So what’s up with garlic confit?
I love garlic in mostly any form. Raw isn’t necessarily my favorite because, let’s be honest, your breath never really recovers after consuming it. Garlic in any other form, I’m down for. In my opinion, there’s nothing better than buttery, gooey garlic that you can just slather on things – like toast!
You cook this garlic in butter (oh yeah) and watch as it gets soft and buttery. Honestly, you can stop there if you want because…yum. But even though you may be tempted to stop at that moment, I encourage you to keep going because there’s some really good flavors with this garlic confit toast.
I’d go as far as to say that this velvety and lush garlic confit mixture would be the most delicious as the base of a sandwich. Think about it.
Maybe even a grilled cheese (I LOVE grilled cheese sandwiches).
A biscuit!
OK – enough brainstorming about different breads to experiment with. Let’s make this garlic confit toast.
Ingredients
- 1 head of garlic, cloves peeled
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 cup Parmesan, grated
- 2 tsp. fresh oregano, chopped
- 1 tsp. grated lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp crush red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt
- 1 baguette
Instructions
- The fun part: cook garlic in butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until golden brown and soft (about 15-20 minutes). Transfer to a bowl and let cool.
- Add Parmesan, oregano, lemon zest and red pepper to the cooled garlic then using a fork, mash into a paste; season with kosher salt.
- Heat broiler. In the meantime, slice the baguette by slicing it crosswise (making bite-sized slices).
- Broil bread (cut side down) on a foil-lined baking sheet until golden (2-ish minutes but watch very closely).
- Let the bread cool slightly then spread garlic spread on the cut side then broil until cheese is golden. Again, 2-ish minutes but please keep an eye on it.
