Tutorial Tuesday: Dipping Oil

OK, I must confess... I can be a bit judgy! I'm a pretty tough critic when it comes to Italian restaurants and the dipping oil that they serve!!! No, I'm not Italian by genetics, but I'm Italian by amore... amore for bread and dipping oil!

You see, I'm hostessing a party in a couple of weeks, and I NEED to have a delicious dipping oil to compliment the rest of the meal that I'm planning to serve... and you know, desire is the Mother of Invention... or something like that!

OK, in hopes of creating THE BEST dipping oil EVER, I combined my favorite flavors from Bella Notte (in Lexington KY), Johnny Carino's and a few ideas from scouring the web... enjoy!

Ingredients: garlic, good olive oil, rosemary, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese!

In order to incorporate the "Johnny Carino's" type of garlic feel, I peeled, and finely chopped two heads of garlic. (You could make much less, but I figure make a batch and freeze the extra's for later!)
I placed about a quarter size dollop of olive oil in my pan, coated the garlic well, and then consistently stirred over medium heat for 10ish minutes! Its important to constantly stir so your garlic won't burn!

Combine all of the most yummy Italian flavors: 1T toasted garlic, 1T rosemary, 1T oregano, 2t basil, 1/2t red pepper flakes, 1/2t salt, 1/2t pepper and 3T Parmesan cheese.

The mixture is beautiful! Store in the freezer in an air tight container when not noshing with fresh bread!

Mmmm! Beautiful drizzled with olive oil!

Dip. Enjoy. Repeat!