Shallot Confit

“Confit”, so French, so fancy. Or is it? Confit just means something that is cooked at a lower temperature for a longer time, usually submerged in oil or fat. These confit shallots go great with appetizers, meats, veggies even fruits. I paired one with a slice of red pear and brie cheese above.

If you don’t like shallots you may still like these. They are much sweeter and more mild than a raw shallot. They are also super easy to make. The only problem I had was oil overflow, but if you have two nesting baking dishes we can solve that. The baking dish I used was quite small, so I only needed a handful of shallots. I recommend you start the same way, and use your smallest dish to make the smallest amount of shallots. I used these instructions from The Tasting Table. I didn't change anything about the recipe, so I won't rewrite it here. Also, a lot depends on how many shallots you use!

Peel your shallots. Cut of any crispy or papery part and the root end. Squeeze them into your baking dish in a single layer. Try to have minimal open space. Preheat your oven to 325°F.

Cover the shallots with olive oil. It might take quite a bit, but if your dish is small (mine is 7" x 4") it should be around a cup or less. This is where things can get messy. My dish is pretty shallow, so to cover the shallots I had to bring the oil almost to the top of the dish. If you have to do the same you’ll want to wrap the whole thing in foil.

Lay down a couple sheets of foil and put your baking dish on top of it, wrap the foil up around the top so the whole thing is in a foil pod. Then if you have another dish that will fit your dish, pop it in there. It may seem like we are going through an unnecessary amount of trouble, but when oil spills in your oven and smokes for weeks you’ll wish you had. Pop the whole thing in the oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. For a dish this small 1 1/2 hours was fine.

Let your foil wrapped dish hang out till it’s cool to the touch before opening. Or open it up while still boiling hot and take pictures! Yeah, the pretty purple will vanish, but they taste so good you won't care.

Bubbling hot oil! Once these are cool drain off most of the oil but save it. It’s delicious and strongly shallot flavored. Unfortunately because of the shallot in the oil, it now has a shelf life. It will last longer if it’s just oil (no shallot chunks or liquid) but I’d keep it in the fridge or even freezer if you don’t want to waste it. Use your shallots right away or store for 2-3 weeks max.