Give A Luxurious Flavor To Bread Dipping Oil With Parmesan And Garlic

When the bread is freshly baked and the oil is full of flavor, the pre-appetizer bread course can be the most irresistible stage of a meal. The best part is that you can whip this up at home to kick off dinners in style, delight guests at a cocktail party, or just snack on — plus, you can effortlessly upgrade the bread-dipping oil with any number of ingredients to create new flavors. One classic combo that pays homage to olive oil's Mediterranean roots is parmesan and garlic.

Making this elevated bread-dipping oil is as easy as gathering the right elements. High-quality extra virgin olive oil is what makes this bread dip so good at restaurants — you get all of that pure sweet, salty, bitter, briny goodness of the olives and a full, velvety texture. When you're shopping for the parmesan, choose a wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano. You'll be grating this right on top of the oil, so you want peak nutty, umami character. As for the spices, you have some flexibility here. You can roast garlic cloves and add them whole, which gives the oil a dreamy, jammy finish — but you should only do this if you're going to enjoy the oil right away. Also for immediate serving, minced fresh garlic delivers a powerful punch. Garlic powder gives you the most versatility, though, as you can mix up a dried spice blend to have on hand and use whenever you want.

If you're working with whole, roasted cloves of garlic, simply add a few to taste to a bowl filled with ½ cup of olive oil. If you choose to make a spice blend, mix together 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 1 tablespoon dried oregano, 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes, 2 teaspoons dried basil, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1½ teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon onion powder. For ½ cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon of this spice blend should do the trick, but you can add more to taste. The same goes for the parmesan you'll grate on top; start with two tablespoons.

You can work in or remove any other dried herbs and spices as you see fit. Brighten the oil with lemon zest or incorporate fresh basil or marjoram. Mix in balsamic vinegar to taste or add whole olives or capers. Swap parmesan out for chunks of fresh mozzarella, or work in a Greek influence with feta.

Speaking of inspiration from different flavor profiles, you can also swap out the spice blend, keeping the garlic powder and instead using homemade French herbs de Provence. You'll love this oil so much, you'll want to use it for more than bread, and you easily can. It makes for a stellar salad dressing, and you can mix it into marinara sauce for extra flavor. You can also fry eggs in it — in fact, for anything you'd cook with olive oil, this makes for a complex, flavorful swap.