Roasted garlic is like nature’s savory candy, if there is such a thing as savory candy. Roasting takes garlic and mellows it out into this rich, mellow, garlicky flavor without the heat of raw garlic. It is amazing added to mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese sauce, spread on toasted baguette, mashed into butter, blended into an aioli, as a spread on a panini, or anything else you can think of.
The first time I remember having roasted garlic was at this restaurant in San Francisco that my father-in-law recommended called The Stinking Rose. There is garlic in EVERYTHING at that restaurant. What I remember most was the appetizer of roasted garlic cloves in what I think was olive oil served with toasted baguette. You just spread the garlic right on top of the bread. It was amazing!
Once I realized how easy it was to make roasted garlic at home, I found myself putting it into just about everything, as you can tell from the intro. It’s so unbelievably simple. Here’s all you need:
Take a garlic bulb and slice off the top ¼-1/2 in, enough to expose the top of the cloves. Then lightly drizzle with olive oil and wrap in tinfoil.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 45-50 minutes until the garlic is tender. The time will vary a bit based on the size of the garlic bulb so after about 40 min check it and continue cooking if needed. Check in about 5-10 minute intervals depending on how soft it is when you check.
When it’s done it will be a lovely golden color and really soft.
Let cool and then use however you like. To use the whole bulb, just squeeze and the garlic will slide right out. To use just a couple cloves you can usually break a clove or two off and squeeze to get the garlic out of the skin.
Once you try roasted garlic and fall in love with it, you may want to make this in bulk. To do that place up to 12 wrapped garlic bulbs into the individual part of a muffin pan and bake. I promise you’ll find new uses for it you’ve never dreamed of.
- Garlic bulbs
- Olive oil
- .
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Lay down a square of tinfoil. Cut off the top of the garlic bulb and place on tinfoil. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Wrap tinfoil around bulb of garlic.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until soft.
- Once cool squeeze the garlic from the bulb.
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