HOw To HOW TO ROAST GARLIC

While I'm on vacation, this is a repost of a popular, earlier entry in the blog that I thought I'd share with new readers.

It was originally published 01/11/2012.  Enjoy!

The other day, I read THIS great post about garlic over at Bee Girl's awesome blog, Sky Minded and Ever Growing, and it inspired me to post something about what we do with our extra garlic...making roasted garlic cloves.

Of course, hers was home grown, and ours, for NOW anyway, is store bought, but this works with any garlic you have.  And it is oh so good!

This is a very simple method:

Preparing for roasted garlic

All you need are some heads of garlic, a muffin pan, and some foil. Oh and some olive oil.  I came up with the idea of using a muffin tin after a few trial runs using a baking sheet.  It worked so well, I bought a dedicated muffin tin just for this purpose.  In fact, 2nd Man calls it "the garlic pan".  The six holes work great for the amount we usually roast at one time, but of course you could do large quantities with a bigger pan.

Slice off the top part of garlic head 

The first step is to slice off about a quarter to a third of the top of a head of garlic.  Don't worry, you can leave the paper husk on...

Put one garlic head in each hole

Next, put one in each opening, cut side up (they fit perfectly this way).  Drizzle about 1 or 2 tbsp olive oil over each, making sure each of them is well coated, while allowing the oil to soak into the head.  You can also sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, though this is optional, and of course herbs could be used as well for an extra layer of flavor...

Cover garlic with foil

...after the tin is full, cover tightly with foil.  Place in 400 degree oven, and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the cloves are soft...

Roasted garlic fresh from the oven

When it's done (and your house smells amazing), remove the foil and you will

end up with something that resembles this...

Roasted garlic in a jar

Squeeze the garlic cloves out, they slip out easily, and put them in a jar for storage

(another great Mason jar use!)...

You can use them as is, or do like we do on occasion (and here in this batch) and top off with olive oil.  Refrigerate until ready to use with either method.  Keep in mind, if you refrigerate oil, it will solidify.  To use the garlic this way, you'd need to leave it out at room temperature for a bit.  I'm not sure how long it would last if you just left it out on the counter without being refrigerated at all, ours gets eaten too fast, ha.

So how do you use them? Many ways. We spread a clove or two on crusty, homemade bread (they almost dissolve into the crust). Or smash a few with a fork and add to mashed potatoes. Or add some to a pasta sauce and let them melt into the tomatoes. You can slip the awesome flavor into just about anything (meatloaf? burgers? rubbed on chicken?). Best of all, you can eat them just as they are.

For those afraid of the strong garlic taste, don't be...this roasting process mellows their flavor and brings out a sweetness and nuttiness that's just heavenly...assuming you like garlic of course!

Yummy garlic

Enjoy!