Balsamic Garlic Rosemary bread dipping oil

We recently tried a new bread dipping oil, Balsamic and Roasted Garlic Dipping Oil, from CDKitchen.com (#50862):

25 cloves garlic (unpeeled)
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus
1 cup olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place unpeeled garlic cloves in baking dish. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake until garlic is golden brown and tender, about 45 minutes. Cool. 

Squeeze garlic between fingertips to release cloves. Transfer garlic cloves to blender. Add vinegar and rosemary and puree herb mixture until smooth. With machine running, gradually add remaining 1 cup olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Dipping oil can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand 15 minutes at room temperature and whisk before using.)

This oil is very tasty - a strong, but not overwhelming garlic flavor and just enough rosemary to make the taste and scent quite interesting.  It is fun to make and the roasting garlic makes the house smell terrific.  My friend Renee and her family tried the oil with bread, like mine did, but she said her son also liked dipping cucumbers.  But, I have to warn you, no matter how good this tastes, it is not an attractive dish,  The balsamic "takes over" and colors the oil a very dark brown.  Using the blender makes a very thick mix -- of this very dark liquid.  Use your imagination.  But no matter how unappetizing this recipe may look, it tastes delicious.    

Bread and Dipping Oil

I think that bread is the best way to really taste a vinaigrette.  The bread is neutral: a perfect vehicle for an unobscured sampling of the vinaigrette.  It may taste different, better or worse, on a salad, but trying it with bread first is best.

Awhile back at an office party my friend Renee brought in a delicious Italian bread with olive oil and a dipping bread herb mix from DeLallo, a Pittsburgh area purveyor of Italian food (www.delallo.com).  It was very good -- maybe a little salty for me, but as I told her, I could have sat there all day tearing pieces of bread and dipping them in that oil.

I think that is what led me to the idea of testing all vinaigrette with bread.

But we also tried the garlic flavored oil for dipping enhanced with some oregano.  Delish. I have a number of idea dipping oil ideas that I look forward to trying.

infused oils

About twenty-five years I made Italian gift baskets at Christmas including pasta, biscotti, candy, and garlic flavored olive oil.  All I did was pour some olive oil in a clean bottle and toss in a couple cloves of garlic.  Clearly those were simpler times -- now the internet is full of all kinds of cautions about contamination and botulism -- some commentators recommending against flavoring your own oils -- too much risk -- you need to be so careful.  Very off-putting.

But no one died of botulism 25 years ago, so I decided to follow the other commentators who just emphasize using sterile bottles, keeping the oil refrigerated and using it within a reasonable time.

Commentators were also divided on what kind of olive oil to use, with some continuing to recommend a very good cold pressed extra virgin oil and others saying if you are going to flavor it, why use a good oil -- any pure olive oil will do.  That makes sense, but I thought I would stick with a better oil and chose Colavita for this project.

I took a quart of olive oil in a clean (and sterilized) mason jar with 12 cloves of garlic.  I left the jar undisturbed for a week.  Wow, was that oil infused -- the garlic smell was so strong (and appealing).

I made some Barb's Vinaigrette using the garlic oil, and then since this is such a scientific blog, some Barb's Vinaigrette using unflavored olive oil.  You could really taste (and smell) the garlic difference.

Do keep the oil refrigerated, and use it promptly: within a month or so.