Garlic Infused Olive Oil

One of the things the hubster and I like doing with our dear friends and favorite dirty hippies over at the Broccoli, Bees, and Blocks blog is going to wine tastings. Honestly, I'm not crazy about wine or alcohol of any sort, really. It's not a moral thing, I've just never enjoyed the taste much. I do, however, love getting a little dressed up and pretending to be fancy with awesome people. Oh, and cheese! Wine tastings are a great excuse to hork down copious amounts of cheese and bread and that's something I can totally get on board with no matter how much my arteries protest!

I have to admit I raised an eyebrow when half a head of garlic popped up on our cheese plate one night. I'd heard of roasted garlic as an ingredient, but eating it straight? Surely, that couldn't be what that head of garlic was there for. No one seemed to be touching it, so I bit the bullet myself and popped a clove in my mouth. HOLY MOUTHGASAM, BATMAN!

That very night we tried to recreate that little bit of creamy heaven back at the stinky farmers hippie house with some not so great results. Then I simply forgot to try it again... Until, that is, I came across a recipe for garlic infused olive oil over at Pixelated Crumb and I knew I had to give it a shot, because the bonus of garlic olive oil, is ROASTED GARLIC!!

Now, I did a few things different than the recipe linked above. I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil and dried spices.

But everything else, I did the same.

Half with their heads!

Bake at 300F for 45-60 minutes. This is where things went a little wonky for me, probably because I set the timer for an hour and wandered off when I spotted something shiny. My garlic came out a combination of ways. I got crispy critters, chewy cloves, and in a few cases a pretty tasty garlic paste. I suggest maybe checking on your garlic 30 minutes in. Careful with the hot oil! I don't consider it a loss at all, though. The crispy garlic works for a fantastic salad topping and I'm using the chewy stuff in a crock pot spaghetti sauce for tomorrow's post!

Now, as far as the oil is concerned... Best. Oil. EVER!


Once it cooled, I strained it (because believe me, you don't want any buggies hitching a ride on garlic bits floating in your oil) and put it back in its original bottle.
 
This is going to be my go to oil from now on, I just know it.