Roasted Garlic
This simple but powerful recipe is an essential tool for every home cook's arsenal. It literally consists of two ingredients, and couldn't be easier to make. Whereas raw garlic is very sharp and spicy, roasted garlic is mellow and sweet. Try this recipe once, and I promise that you'll be hoarding heads of garlic so you always have roasted garlic on hand.
Ingredients
- 1 or more whole garlic bulbs outer, papery skins removed, leaving the last layer of skins on the individual cloves of garlic
- avocado oil or other vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Keeping the whole garlic bulbs in tact, use a sharp knife to slice off the tips of the garlic cloves, exposing the inside of the tops of the cloves. I like to save the tops to mince and in recipes that call for fresh garlic.
- Place the garlic bulbs cut-side up on one side of a rectangular piece of tin foil.
- Pour a little oil onto the exposed top of each garlic bulb.
- Fold the tinfoil over the garlic bulbs and crimp it shut so no air can escape.
- Roast for 45-60 minutes, depending on the size of your garlic bulbs.
- Remove from the oven and unwrap from the foil. Let the garlic cool for 10-15 minutes until it's cool enough to handle.
- Remove the cloves from their skins by peeling or slicing a small tear in each skin and slipping the cloves out one by one.
- You can use the garlic cloves whole, chopped, or as a paste. To create roasted garlic paste, I like to rub the roasted cloves through a fine mesh sieve using a flexible silicone scraper.
- their own dish or to use as a spread, or you can incorporate the roasted garlic cloves into savory dishes like mashed potatoes, garlic bread, baked potatoes, dressings, garlic mayonnaise, pasta sauces, dips, purées... the possibilities are endless!