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Twirl the Feta Macaronia lengthwise and arrange 5 disks of the pastitsio on each plate. Surround with the vegetable mixture. Spoon a little béchamel over the pastitsio, and finish with a drizzle of olive oil, the celery leaves, and the shaved kefalotiri.

the aegean pantry

I make a lot of different confits in both my restaurant and home kitchens, and this technique is very simple for even the home cook to execute. The benefits are enormous: from each of the confits below you have a whole repertoire of great dishes newly available. There’s no trick, and you don’t need a sous chef or a professional kitchen.

The technique of simmering food in fat (lard or oil) at a low temperature was actually developed at a time when there was no refrigeration. People looked for various ways to preserve their food, and they realized that anything submerged in oil would not be exposed to aerobic bacteria, the ones that need oxygen to survive. Meat and, later, vegetables could be kept far longer than when exposed to the air. In today’s haute cuisine, we know these flavors and love what they can add to a dish. So, not only are you preserving a vegetable that can be ready to add to a recipe at a moment’s notice, you are also making the dish even more tasty.

With a little care and attention to basic hygiene (see “Preserving Hygiene” on page 268) all my vegetable confits will last up to three weeks in the refrigerator. With that in mind, I suggest you double these recipes. Once you taste the results of adding a tablespoon of Garlic Purée to a simple pan sauce, or enjoy a great potato salad made with Artichoke Confit, you’ll see the benefit of this advice.

In this chapter I also include a number of sauces and vinaigrettes that are called for earlier in the book.

GARLIC CONFIT

MAKES 3 CUPS

If you get nothing else out of this book, you are going to thank me for this recipe. If you like Italian food—if you like my food—you will want to keep this confit on hand. You can keep it in the refrigerator for weeks, and the oil will add another level of flavor to Ladolemono or any of the vinaigrettes in this book. Always save the confit oil from any of my vegetable confits for another use, such as in a vinaigrette or for drizzling over a finished dish. If you have access to peeled garlic cloves, this confit makes itself.

3 cups garlic cloves, peeled

1 fresh bay leaf or 2 dried leaves

8 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme

Kosher salt and whole black peppercorns

About 2 cups blended oil (50 percent canola, 50 percent extra-virgin olive), as needed

Put the garlic cloves in a heavy, covered braising pan or Dutch oven. Add the bay leaf and thyme, a scant tablespoon kosher salt, and 15 or 20 black peppercorns. Barely cover with the oil.

Cover the pan and braise in a 300°F oven until the cloves are pale golden and very tender, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool it to room temperature.

Transfer the garlic and all of the oil to a sterilized jar. Press a square of plastic wrap down directly onto the surface of the oil. Place another square of plastic over the rim of the jar and twist on the lid or secure with a rubber band. With every use, replace the square of plastic that touches the oil and use a perfectly clean fork or tongs each time to prevent cross-contamination from other surfaces in your kitchen. As long as the cloves and Garlic Purée, below, are covered with oil, they will last for at least 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

GARLIC PURÉE

MAKES ABOUT ¾ CUP

Substitute this purée for butter to finish and emulsify pan sauces, in addition to countless other uses. You can even substitute store-bought caramelized garlic for the Garlic Confit.

About 1 cup cloves garlic from Garlic Confit (above)

With a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic cloves to a cutting board, allowing all of the oil to drain back into the container. Chop the garlic fine (or purée it in a mini food processor). Film with confit oil and store in the refrigerator.

CHICKPEA CONFIT

MAKES ABOUT 3 CUPS

Cloves