GARLIC CONFIT

MAKES ABOUT 1½ CUPS

MAKING GARLIC CONFIT is my way of turning the sharpness of the raw thing into a sweet, soft condiment that can add rich flavor to even the simplest dish. Fresh garlic arrives at the market all at once, so making confit is a fine way to preserve its fresh goodness. And while you can easily preserve garlic in a dry, dark place, I like to take it one step further—the confit makes it so easy to use in many recipes.

Cooking garlic slowly over a long period of time draws out its sweetness and eliminates its pungency. It also gets you one step closer to cooking a memorable dish. The oil that’s left is a fantastic and flavorful cooking oil on its own. I like to fold garlic confit into stewed beans and braised greens; or I coat green beans or bok choy with it in a pan sauté; or I blend it into an avocado mousse.

Combine 1 cup garlic cloves and 1 cup peanut or grapeseed oil in a small saucepan and very gently simmer until the cloves are soft, about 2 hours. Let cool, then transfer the cloves and oil to a covered container. The confit will keep, refrigerated, for about a month.

Mincing Garlic

Choose a chef’s knife for this job because mincing garlic requires a big blade that can rock on the cutting board. Only use whole heads of healthy garlic (that is, white, with papery skins, and firm to the touch). Separate the cloves, smash each with the side of the knife, and remove the peel. First, slice the cloves, and then, with one hand on the handle and the other on the top of the blade, mince the slices by rocking the knife back and forth.

Garlic Green & Black

To put it really clearly, green garlic is simply a young garlic plant, pulled in the spring before the bulb is fully formed. Most farmers in North America plant garlic around Columbus Day in the fall, winter it over, then harvest it by mid-July. In early spring, there are fewer sources of revenue, so farmers often pull up 10 to 15 percent of their immature garlic to sell as green garlic. Enthusiastic cooks everywhere benefit from its light, aromatic flavor in spring dishes. I especially love to use green garlic in soups and light vegetable sauces, scrambled eggs, roasted new carrots—I could go on. The rest of the garlic still in the ground has yet another benefit before harvest: garlic scapes. These are the tender shoots of the plant that grow up and out of the stem, curling their way to the sky. Most farmers cut the scapes to preserve the energy of the bulb and thus create yet another spring crop.

Black garlic, on the other hand, uses fully mature garlic bulbs. Whole heads of garlic are very slowly heated and then aged, a process that turns the ivory white cloves coal black. It’s an ancient way to generate flavor in Asian cultures, but black garlic has become newly popular today. I add it to fish marinades, mushroom broth, sautéed cabbage, and pickles or other fermented foods, where it lends a satisfying, earthy flavor.

Green garlic is easily found at spring farmers’ markets; buy black garlic at Asian specialty stores.