A couple of miscellaneous preparations

In re-reading the chive oil post, I realized I had not yet strained it! Oops! Take the blended chives and canola oil and strain them through cheesecloth (I used a double thickness) into a small container. The RULES demand that you do not force, push, squeeze or in any way intimidate the dripping process to go faster; lest you may end up with cloudy chive oil. Needless to say, I intimidated my chive oil on occasion. Because I have this new Rebel Rep and Street Cred to keep up here. Besides, cloudy chive oil doesn't make my top 10 list of things that keep me awake at night. However what might keep me up tonight is that I need 3 T of it for the Asparagus coins and enough for plating 2 salad dishes... LOL just kidding, I'll sleep fine. Sorry for the blurry pics.

The other miscellaneous is one of my favorite things. A multipurpose concoction. It's something I might consider adding to my regular schedule, like chicken stock, tomato confit and a few others. This is Garlic Confit.  Very Simple. Take garlic cloves, peel them (no smashing) cut off the root end and place them in a pot with is placed on a heat diffuser (I used my cast iron skillet). To facilitate peeling I used a silicone pot holder and rolled the cloves in it. A silpat works as well. Cover with enough canola oil so that no garlic tips stick out.  Cook the cloves over a heat that produces small bubbles but dont break the surface. Keep an eye on the heat and remove from the burner if necessary.  Stir every 5 minutes and cook for 40 minutes or so until the cloves are tender to a knife prick.  The recipe calls for 1 c garlic cloves and 2 c canola. It will keep 1 week in  the fridge so I scaled mine way back. Allow the cloves to cool in the oil, then store cloves in oil in fridge. What this produces is an utterly transformed garlic clove, subtle, almost sweet and very fragrant; it can be pureed or mashed or used in our Rack of Lamb recipe tomorrow. The bonus is that you have some garlic infused oil that can be used in a variety of ways, vinaigrettes, spread on bread, you name it!

Ok that's all folks until the huge post tomorrow. Welcome Happy Morning!
See you soon.