The wonderful world of confit

I had some friends over for tapas last night and we had so much fun that everyone stayed the night. The next morning we had a buffet style breakfast and headed over to Williamstown for the rest of the day.

The menu was very simple, yet tasty. I served soy empanadas, garlic and tomato confit with a grilled loaf and patatas a lo pobre (poor man's potatos), which is a saute of thinly sliced potatoes, capsicum, onions and garlic. I've never made confit before and wasn't even aware of its existence until my cookery instructor introduced the term in reference to duck. On television I once saw a chef prepare some sort of scallops with a tomato confit, so I decided to give the idea a try. I found a recipe for tomato and garlic confit and it came out wonderfully. The end result was a very rich paste perfect for spreading over grilled slices of a loaf.

I modified the recipe a bit to make the quantity I wanted:

Tomato & Garlic Confit
1 can of diced tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat a saucepan over low heat and add garlic cloves. When the exterior of the cloves have browned add the tomatoes and olive oil. Stir until combined.

2. Reduce the tomato mixture down to a paste and the oil has separated from the tomato mixture, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Mash the garlic cloves into the paste. Transfer the paste to a bowl. Place a metal colander over the saucepan and pour the paste in it. With a wooden spoon press the paste through the colander making sure to mash any remaining bits. When no more liquid can be pressed through, transfer the remaining mixture into the saucepan, stir and season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Transfer the confit to a serving dish and enjoy with grilled slices of your preferred loaf.