Chili Peppers in Oil with Garlic and Rosemary (Confit)
As soon as the season of vegetables, fruit and all the other gifts of nature arrives, everyone rushes to preserve them. It looks like a kind of madness — people put up tons of everything for the winter. I prefer fresh dishes, for example chili peppers in oil.
Of course, the point of preserving is to save the harvest and keep yourself stocked with food through the winter. I once read somewhere that some foods keep quite well in fat. French cuisine has a term for it — confit. The word means “preserved”. It is a very old method that lets you keep certain foods for a long time. Most often it is used for meat or game. While cooking, the confit meat becomes very soft and tender, then it is packed into a container and covered with rendered fat.
When I was little, at my grandmother's in the village they made homemade pork sausage, then packed it into a clay pot and covered it with rendered pork fat. After a further spell in the oven, the lard set and kept the sausage for a long time. The important thing, though, was not to let the fat go rancid. Such a preserve rarely lasted longer than 2–3 months.
The same method is also used to make seasonings. Anyone who cooks Mediterranean food probably flavors olive oil a little with garlic and aromatic herbs. A confit is the perfect way to make such an oil.
You often come across recipes that use a flavored preserve instead of plain olive oil. While young garlic is in season, it is slowly stewed in olive oil, then stored in jars, and both the oil and the garlic cloves are used as needed — garlic confit as a seasoning.
At home we often make pasta with various sauces, or just sauces — mostly for pizza. Marinara sauce is tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and spices. Pizza marinara with this sauce is simply superb (although many people think marinara means seafood). When cooking, the olive oil is usually heated with a few crushed garlic cloves, the garlic is fried and then removed from the oil. The oil is used for further cooking.
I have several recipes for fried chili peppers — spicy appetizers I really love. They keep well for a long time.
I had the idea of making hot chili peppers in oil, with garlic cloves and herbs. First, it is a great way to prepare olive oil to use later as a base for frying and for making sauces. Second, both the garlic and the chili-infused oil will be delicious and will most likely be gone very quickly — I know that from experience.
To be honest, I didn't even expect chili peppers in oil to be this tasty.
So, homemade chili peppers in oil are a base for tasty dishes and sauces. And the peppers themselves are an appetizer, or simply a treat for connoisseurs.
Ingredients
one 400 g jar
- Olive oil 250 ml
- Garlic 2 heads
- Red chili peppers 6-7
- Rosemary 2-3 sprigs
- Bay leaves 1-2
Step-by-step recipe
- Simple as it is, it is important that the garlic and chili peppers neither burn nor stay raw. Keep an eye on the process the whole time and don't wander off. The second important point — actually, the most important one — is safety. Hot oil is a dangerous thing. Never let any water get into the oil, to avoid spattering. So dry all the ingredients thoroughly after washing. This is very important!
- To prepare the ingredients, remove the outer papery skin from the garlic heads and separate them into cloves. Do not peel the cloves, otherwise the garlic will burn or turn to mush while cooking. Be sure to prick each clove with a needle or the tip of a knife. Cut the rosemary sprigs into pieces 5–6 cm long. Simply pierce the chili peppers with the tip of a knife so that steam doesn't burst them.
- I'll probably be asked whether to add salt. Salt does not dissolve in oil. I don't salt, since the oil is meant for later cooking, and the peppers and garlic can be salted afterwards, right before eating. If you really want them salted, you can soak the peppers and garlic in salted water for a few hours beforehand.
- Put the garlic cloves into a metal saucepan. Add half of the prepared rosemary sprigs and 1–2 bay leaves. Pour olive oil over the garlic. Put the saucepan on the heat and bring it just to the point (!) of boiling. Immediately turn the heat down — as low as you can possibly get it. The oil must never boil. The garlic should slowly poach in the oil. Poaching takes 15 to 30 minutes. Check for doneness with a thin knife: if the cloves are easily pierced with no resistance, they are done.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat, spoon the garlic cloves out of the oil and transfer them to a dry jar that can be sealed. Take all the rosemary and the bay leaves out of the oil. Add the remaining fresh rosemary to the garlic.
- Put the saucepan of oil back on the heat. Drop the chili peppers into the oil. Bring to a boil and turn the heat down to the minimum. Poach the peppers for 10 minutes.
- Transfer the peppers to the jar with the garlic. If the peppers are long, you can bend them or fold them in half. Pour all the flavored olive oil into the jar.
- Seal the jar. Once the chili peppers in oil have cooled at room temperature, put them in the fridge.
- In fact, you can try them straight away. As an appetizer, simply eat a chili pepper from the oil with a garlic clove and a piece of fresh bread. When I say “appetizer”, I mean exactly the kind of thing that goes with a drink. You know what I mean.
- As a bonus, you can drizzle the peppers and garlic cloves with a mixture of wine vinegar and freshly grated garlic. Just like in my old recipe for a chili pepper appetizer.
- The oil left in the jar is perfect for cooking all sorts of dishes. It is very aromatic and not hot at all. It is also ideal for tasty bruschetta.
| Yield: | One 400 g jar |
| Calories: | 900 |
| Prep: | 10 mins |
| Cooking: | 40 mins |
| Ready in: | 50 mins |
| Category: | Snacks and Sauces |
| Cuisine: | European |
| Rating: |
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4.8
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