Garlic Confit

I found recipes from both WP and ATK that are very similar. Basically garlic simmered in olive oil. You end up with garlic flavored olive oil, and soft spreadable garlic cloves.

They also described a quick way to peel a whole head of garlic, it is a variation on the shake 'em method - peel the outer papery skin off the garlic head, put in a 2-cup wide-mouth Mason jar, screw on the lid and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Dump out, inspect cloves to see if any still have skin, put those back in jar and repeat. They say this works for even just a few cloves. I haven't tried this, I hope it works.

Two recipes associated with this are Chicken with 32 Cloves of Garlic and Garlic Parmesan Cheese Coins. They also recommend mixing with 4 tablespoons unsalted butter and 2 teaspoons minced parsley (optional) for a roasted garlic butter.

Ingredients

Peeled cloves from 2 heads of garlic, root ends trimmed (about 24 to 30)
1 cup EVOO

Instructions

1. Combine the garlic and oil in a small deep saucepan,. Garlic should be just barely submerged, add oil if necessary (don't worry if some of the garlic floats while cooking). Bring to bare simmer over medium-low heat; reduce to low so that tiny bubbles surround garlic but garlic is not actively frying. Continue to cook stirring occasionally until garlic is soft and pale tan, 30 to 35 minutes later (WP says 45 minutes to an hour).

2. Once the garlic is golden and soft, remove from the heat and let cool in the pan to room temperature. WP says to transfer garlic and oil to a clean, lidded jar and refrigerate until needed. ATK says to strain oil into separate container and store them separately; refrigerate garlic (up to 1 week) or freeze, and refrigerate oil for up to 4 days (or freeze).