Ever since I got the confits from Milk Street, I’ve been using them in various dishes. I’ve been experimenting with how much to use and where they have an impact in flavor. I’ve found so far that they do very well in dishes with ground meats, and in sauces. I am particularly pleased with the fact that all are made of ingredients that are natural, without chemicals or preservatives. They worked well in the Beef Stroganoff dish I made first, but I didn’t take any photos of that one. Here are three of the dishes that turned out well.

The first dish is one I’ve shown before, from the Milk Street cookbook World in a Skillet, and has become a household staple – Japanese Chicken Meatballs. I substituted the confits for the garlic, onion and ginger in the recipe, about a tablespoon full for each ingredient.

I put some in the meat mixture as well as the sauce.

These turned out wonderfully, and saved a bit of time chopping and grating.

Next, I gave it a try in a meatloaf. I don’t have a recipe for this, I just wing it. This one was going to have some mushrooms, but I skipped the step of sauteing garlic and onion, using the confits in the mixture instead.

I put the meat, confits, mushrooms, and some breadcrumbs moistened with milk in a bowl. Then, using my hands, I squished it around until I had the meatloaf nicely mixed.

This time, because the roasted garlic is a strong taste, I only used about a half tablespoon of it. I used two tablespoons of the shallot confit. I formed the meatloaf and baked it with a topping of canned tomato sauce.

Yum! My Sweet Babboo declared this one a keeper.

Then, just this past weekend, I wanted to make Orange Chicken. I use either chicken tenders or boneless thigh meat for this dish. It is easy, as the sauce comes in a bottle. The drawback is the bottled sauce is sometimes too sweet. So, I thought adding some of the confit in garlic and ginger would balance that out. I had sriracha ready, but didn’t need it as this brand already had enough heat.

I used a fresh onion this time as I wanted pieces of it in the dish to add a bit of texture. I removed the tendons from the chicken, and cut the tenders into bite size pieces. Both were sauteed in a deep pan until the chicken was lightly browned and the onions were softened but not to the translucent stage.

I added the mushrooms, letting them soften, then added half the bottle of orange sauce. Then I added about a tablespoon each of the garlic confit and the ginger confit. The mix was simmered for about 10 more minutes to ensure the chicken was fully cooked.

Oh, perfect. It balanced the sweetness with savory, and My Sweet Babboo was very happy with the result. There were no leftovers of this dish.

Milk Street has a nice article on How to Use Garlic Confit, to give you more ideas on these versatile, time-saving ingredients. They also have an article on making your own confits, as well as special deals on ordering the ones I have from their store. Order the same ones I used from Milk Street, with this link – set of three confits in ginger, shallot and garlic flavors. I haven’t tried the black garlic yet, but will soon.

I got a cute gift from Milk Street yesterday. This is a clever little bag that comes very compactly rolled. The card that came with it shows how easy it is to unwrap it to form the bag with handles, then snap the tabs to make it fold up again all on its own. I actually had some fun showing it to My Sweet Babboo, pulling it apart and snapping it closed several times. It rolls back up just like it came, with a snap to keep it rolled up.

It is called a Shupatto Foldable Tote, available on Milk Street. I am definitely taking this to the next trip to the grocery store, and the next visit to a vendor mall at a quilt show. It worked exactly as described. I might need a second one to keep in the car.

I promised the pickleball group that I would do a bit of baking and stop by for a visit. I wanted to do something different, so I got out my Vanilla Sugar Cookies recipe and added a bit of pizzazz. Mixing up the dry ingredients, I added two tablespoons of dried orange peel, and one tablespoon of cinnamon.

The dry ingredients were mixed well, added to the wet, then the dough was allowed to rest in the refrigerator. I rolled the cookies out using my Precision Rolling Pin that has screw in knobs on the ends to make the space under the pin precise. The cookie dough comes out the same thickness every time.

I used the thickest one so I’d get nice fat, soft cookies. I baked them for one more minute to be sure they were nicely done.

The cookies have a powdered sugar frosting, and a light sprinkle of green sugar crystals. They are ready to go. I’ll deliver them this morning.

See what’s new at Milk Street – Everything you need to change the way you cook. Get 15% off your first order from the Milk Street Store with code MILK15. While you are there, check out the World in a Skillet cookbook, probably my favorite of all of them, although the Tuesday Nights and Tuesday Nights Mediterranean books would tie for a close second.

Are you interested in trying out confits? Have you cooked with them before?