Homemade flavored oil: quick cooking ideas

Aromatic herbs and a good oil are the basic ingredients for a good flavored oil, excellent for flavoring meat, fish and vegetable side dishes.

Preparing the flavored oil is really very simple. This type of oil can be prepared with aromatic herbs and spices to which garlic and chilli can also be added and is perfect to use to flavor meat or fish- based main courses and vegetable side dishes . Citrus-flavored oil, for example, is perfect for seasoning fish. There are many recipes for flavored oil however, once you have learned the two procedures that we are about to reveal to you, there will be nothing else to learn: you can indulge yourself with your extra virgin olive oil flavored with garlic, basil, chilli and more. (the limit is only your imagination).

How to make flavored oil? To start, the advice is to always use a good quality extra virgin olive oil . First we will explain how to prepare cold aromatic oil, then we will move on to the recipe to make it hot and with two methods (one really fast).

Preparation of cold flavored oil (with rosemary)

1. To prepare the aromatic oil, start by washing the sprigs of fresh rosemary well under cold running water.
2. Once done, dry them thoroughly and transfer them to a sterilized glass bottle with an airtight cap.
3. Fill the bottle with olive oil, close it and transfer to the pantry for a couple of weeks .
4. After the indicated time has elapsed, the flavored oil is ready to be used. You can decide to filter it or leave the herbs in the oil.

How to flavor hot oil: on the stove or in the microwave

To make the aromatization following these two methods we recommend choosing it in the preparation of the garlic flavored oil (which must first be deprived of the core and left to brown in a pan) or dry spices such as chilli, dried or powdered ginger. , turmeric or even, exceptionally, bay leaf).

The slightly longer version, but definitely slower than the cold one, involves heating the extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan until it begins to boil . At this point, immediately turn off the heat and add the designated aroma in the quantity you prefer (it is certainly better to do some tests especially with the oil flavored with dry chilli, or with ginger and garlic). Let the liquid return to room temperature and only when it is cold again filter it (optional) and bottle it and you can use it immediately.

The second very fast way to flavor the oil is to use the microwave. Put the liquid and the aroma in a suitable container and let it run for 1-2 minutes at the maximum power of your appliance. Then taste (carefully not to burn yourself) the oil and, if it is tasty enough, move on to use it or bottle it.

storage

This type of preparation is kept exactly like normal oil , so leave it in a cool and dry place (with the bottle tightly closed) and away from sources of light or heat. We do not recommend freezing in the freezer.