Good olive oil is expensive enough, but when one buys bottles of oil for dipping, the ones that already have herbs and spices added, it costs even more.
So I’ve been growing some herbs. I have fresh basil and oregano. I already had some onion and garlic clove. I minced everything up and stirred it into the oil.
My question is, how long does one let it steep? I screwed a lid on the glass jar, and have had it for a while at room temperature. Should I refrigerate instead?
Any advice would be appreciated!
I’ve been recently looking into infusing olive oil with herbs, myself, and one thing that gets repeated over and over on cooking websites is not to steep anything in the oil that contains water. That provides an excellent breeding ground for bacteria and could cause botulism if the oil is kept too long. Three or four days in the refrigerator is okay, but anything longer and you’re taking a big risk.
That means no fresh herbs, garlic or onion unless you dehydrate them first. Alternatively, you can pickle the garlic and onion, but that strikes me as a lot of effort when dehydrating is so easy. When using dried ingredients, just store the oil in a cool dark place and it will keep for up to several months.
My own reason for doing this is because I frequent a small family-owned Italian restaurant that serves an awesome infused olive oil that I’d love to try to emulate. It definitely contains oregano, dried chilies and garlic but I’m not sure what else. Unfortunately, the owner is tight-lipped on the recipe so my only recourse is to experiment.
Of course, I’ll expect you to share if you hit upon a magic combination!
Another choice is to add the herbs etc. to the bread instead of the oil (assuming a Baker makes his own bread).
Or, if you’re hell bent on infusing the oil, you could grind the herbs, garlic and a little salt in a pestle and add it to the oil just before serving.
This stuff is so damn good, people will think you’re a genius.
Herb-Parmesan Bread
This is batter bread, so it doesn’t require kneading, just thorough mixing of ingredients.
4 ¼ cups sifted flour
2 pkg. active dry yeast (check date)
2 TBSP sugar
2 TSP salt
1½ TBSP dried oregano leaves
½ cup plus 1 TBSP grated Parmesan cheese (or combine with Romano or Asiago)
2 cups warm water (130 deg.F)
2 TBSP softened butter
In a mixing bowl, place three cups of the flour. Add salt, yeast, sugar, and oregano and mix on low speed or by hand until blended. Check the temperature of the water with a thermometer. This is critical for the yeast to properly activate. Add the water and softened butter to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add the ½ cup of Parmesan cheese. Continue beating for 2 minutes until the batter is smooth. Add the rest of the flour gradually, either beating in by hand or with mixer at low speed. The batter should not be too wet. If it is, add a bit more sifted flour, or you’ll end up with a dense product.
Cover the bowl and let rise in warm place for about 45 minutes until double in bulk. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Beat the dough down for about 30 seconds, then transfer to a well-greased 2-quart casserole dish. Cover and let rise for a short period, perhaps 15 minutes. This allows the batter to rise a bit, but not double. If it rises too much, it will be full of air holes.
Sprinkle the remaining TBSP of cheese over the top of the bread and bake for about 45 minutes or until nicely browned. Turn out immediately onto a wire rack. It helps to run a table knife around the dish to break the loaf loose before attempting to turn it out onto the rack. Otherwise, part of it may remain in the dish.
You might want to check up about the garlic. There is some* threat of garlic infused oil getting infected with anaerobic botulism.
*Some meaning differing opinions by all kinds of experts, which I am not going to sum up because it’s really mess when I tried to figure out the real poop. And I am not going to give advice on something that confusing but it is something you should be aware of.
No dehydrator? Use the oven on low or roast garlic, onions and herbs in a hot cast iron skillet. You should do that to intensify the flavor of spices anyway.
