Do you remember about 4 or 5 years ago, when Pizza Express had those vouchers for 241 pizzas all over the internet? We used to meet our friends there after work most Fridays and have a night of Pizza and wine. And this is when my serious garlic obsession began.
I always ordered the same pizza, the La Reine, and the discovery of garlic oil as an addition to it was a revelation. I’d drip it alllll over the pizza, save extra for the crusts, and would basically honk of garlic for the next couple of days. It tasted SO GOOD though it was almost worth the looks of disgust and friends wafting their hands in front of their noses whenever they spoke to me. Plus I was engaged to Will then, so didn’t really need to worry about not smelling.
Ever since then I’ve used Garlic in as many dishes as I can: slow-roasted lamb, pasta, roast chicken, homemade chicken kievs, guacamole… it’s my hero ingredient, goes into everything. On the odd speedy-cooking occasion I will use Waitrose’s lazy garlic, but more often than not I’ll add a bit of garlic to my meals with some homemade garlic oil.
This is one of the easiest recipes I will ever post but it really transforms some foods; it adds a great edge to spaghetti carbonara, grilled meats or even to plain pasta. It’s a kitchen staple of mine and I can’t recommend it enough.
- 1 glass bottle
- 1 pouring spout (mine was from The Scullery kitchen shop in Muswell Hill many moons ago)
- 1 clove garlic
- 750ml olive oil
- Thoroughly clean and dry your glass bottle.
- Crack open your garlic and peel the individual cloves. I do this by slicing off the rough flat side then crushing the clove with the flat blade of a knife. It makes it a lot easier to remove the skin this way.
- Put all the cloves in the bottle and pour in the oil.
- Infuse somewhere out of the way for a week or so with the lid on.
PS: Please take a quick look at this information about the link between botulism and garlic oil.
Ah! La Reine is my fav too (romana base, ovbs!) and I’m obsessed with the chilli oil glugged all over it! Must dig out a recipe for that too! Good work! x
I’m a massive wimp and can’t eat spicy food (waaaah) but I make it for my husband – exactly the same but with chilis (red) instead of garlic! x
We do this and we have a chili o9l with chili’s we grew too. I would love to know how you do the recipe box with the print section. Pretty please.
It’s really easy! Just use this plugin – http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/easyrecipe/
As a former Pizza Express waiter (who got free pizzas every shift) I can attest that garlic oil never gets old.
I hope I’ll be eating it for a very very long time.
Wow this is so useful- fab discovery! Now is there one for onion? I hate peeling those feckers…
Don’t forget to decant the oil and discard the garlic after a week, so as not to develop botulism. See attached link.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/food-aliment/garlic-ail-eng.php
Wow, I had no idea of this link between garlic oil and botulism. I will add the info to the post – thank you!
having a gluten allergy, pizza express is so off limits for me :( xx
Love making garlic..and chilli oils-delicious!
Love garlic oil, but the one I buy is so expensive. I would love to give this a go.
Botulinum inhibits the body’s production of acetylcholine within the nervous system, the chemical that produces a bridge across synapses, where nerve cell axons and dendrites connect with each other. All forms lead to paralysis that typically starts with the muscles of the face and then spreads towards the limbs.,-,”
My own web portal
<http://www.healthfitnessbook.com
This is rare, but not to be messed with.
Botulism is potentially fatal food poisoning, and it can come about when making garlic-infused oil at home. The bacteria spores that cause botulism are called Clostridium botulinum, and they can spread in certain foods when not exposed to oxygen—as is the case when infusing garlic in oil