Anointing Oil & Braised Garlic

I'll use this stuff up every chance I get. It's makes an excellent base for dressings & marinades, a flavorful sauteing & stir-frying component, a great dip for crusty breads or a finishing element for a plate. I think the best batch I ever made was with a 20% extra virgin olive oil 80% peanut oil blend, but whatever versatile oil you'd prefer will suffice. You can often find peeled whole fresh garlic cloves in your produce section, but if they aren't available then FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY DO NOT use any sort chopped/prepared garlic. Find fresh bulbs, you'll need about 6-8. Then go watch this and learn ChefMajyk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d3oc24fD-c

In my professional kitchens I try to keep this on hand all the time so we make it in 3-5 gallon batches. Remember, YOU ARE WORKING WITH HOT OIL, and a lot of it. Use caution and sense and handle the product coming out of the oven extremely carefully. The recipe below will render you a little less than 2 quarts of oil and a bit less than a pint of roasted garlic puree'.

Stuff you'll need:
A safe  place for hot oil to sit and cool
3-4 quart casserole dish with high sides
Hand sized metal skimmer or strainer
(2) 1 quart jars/bottles/vessels for finished oil
A small metal mixing bowl
A 1 pint container for the finished cloves
2 quarts of oil
2 cups whole fresh garlic cloves
13 branches of fresh herbs bundled with a bit of twine. (I love using thyme, oregano, parsley, rosemary or chives. Be considerate of the fact that some pungent herbs, like rosemary or even chives, can overpower the subtlety of flavor that we're creating and should be used with a lighter hand and paired with a greater amount those herbs of a more delicate flavor.)

How to do it:
           Preheat you oven to 375(f). Put the garlic and herbs in the casserole dish. Pour the total amount of oil into the casserole dish. Cover with aluminum foil and place in oven for 45 minutes. Carefully slide out oven rack and remove the aluminum foil. You are looking for the cloves to all be floating, and to have shifted from their raw pale buttery yellow color to a golden amber. If they've not achieved this state then CAREFULLY slide the rack back into the oven and observe them in 10-15 minute intervals until they reach that nice golden amber shade.
           Once you reach the amber shade you are looking for, immediately skim all the cloves and herbs from the oil and remove then to the small metal bowl to cool, Then CAREFULLY move your casserole of hot oil to it's safe place to cool and forget about it for a couple of hours. Once your cloves and herbs have cooled a bit pick out the the herb bundle (likely leaving a few bits of leaf and whatnot, that's ok) and using the back of a kitchen spoon mash the cloves into paste. Transfer this to your one pint container and store in the fridge. It makes a delicious flavorful additive to all sorts of things!
           Once the oil is completely cool transfer it to your waiting bottles and you're good to go! Double or triple the batch and get some cute little fancy-schmancy bottles to make a great homemade gift that folk's'll request over and over again!

Give it a try! What'd you think? Let me know in the comments below.