Cheat's Skillet Garlic Bread with Confit Garlic Butter

⏱ 40 min · Serves 4

Slow-softened garlic mashed into salty butter, stuffed into a crusty loaf and crisped in a hot pan so the base goes shatteringly golden while the middle stays pillowy and dripping. Once you cook garlic bread in a skillet you won't go back to the foil parcel.

Per serving: 610 kcal · 12.0g protein · 45.0g carbs · 42.0g fat

Ingredients

• 1 crusty baguette or small ciabatta loaf (approx. 300g)
• 1 whole head of garlic, cloves peeled (about 10-12 cloves)
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 100g salted butter, softened
• 20g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 30g Parmesan or vegetarian hard cheese, finely grated
• 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
• Generous grind of black pepper
• Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

Method

1. Put the peeled garlic cloves in a small pan with the olive oil over the lowest heat. Cook gently for 15-18 minutes, until the cloves are soft enough to squash with a spoon and pale gold. Don't let them brown or they'll turn bitter. Lift out the garlic and reserve the oil.
2. Mash the soft garlic to a paste with a fork, then beat into the softened butter along with the parsley, half the Parmesan, the flaky salt, pepper and chilli flakes if using.
3. Cut the loaf almost through at 2cm intervals, leaving the base attached like a concertina. Push the garlic butter generously into every gap, using it all.
4. Heat a large dry cast-iron or heavy frying pan over a medium heat. Brush the outside base of the loaf with a little of the reserved garlic oil and set it in the pan.
5. Cover loosely with foil or a lid and cook for 5-6 minutes, pressing down gently now and then, until the base is deeply golden and crisp and the butter has melted through the cracks.
6. Scatter over the remaining Parmesan, cover again for 1 minute to melt, then tip onto a board. Drizzle with any leftover garlic oil, tear apart and eat immediately while the butter is still pooling.