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How to Roast Garlic
Dear garlic lovers, if you want you can skip this first paragraph and get right to the good stuff. In this first part I’m going to try to convince the “not-so-much-into-garlic” people among us that they really want to try this. I know, you are thinking “I’m not so much into garlic,” but trust me, this isn’t your typical pungent, sharp garlic flavor. No, this is where we make the magic of caramelization happen and transform your garlic bulb into a buttery, creamy, mild flavor bomb that is as good just spread on a cracker as it is added to stews, soups, dips…well really, anything. Trust me, even vampires can’t stay away from a perfectly roasted, golden brown bulb of garlic.
The really great thing about roasting garlic is that it is supremely easy to do. In just a few simple steps, you are on your way.
The first thing is to preheat your oven of course. Let’s do 400 degrees F.
Next you want to prepare your garlic heads for roasting. Remove most of the papery exterior from each head of garlic, then expose the cloves. The easiest way is to take a knife and cut through the head about 1/3 of the way from the tip, so you expose a cross section of most of the cloves. Any cloves you miss you can trim up with a paring knife. You’ll want them to something look like this:
Next you will want to get a piece of foil for each head of garlic (you are going to wrap them up tight inside after the next step). Drizzle a liberal amount of olive oil over the exposed cloves. No need to drown them, just make sure you hit each clove with some of that olive oil love.
No wrap each head of garlic up in a tight little foil package, put it in a baking dish, and roast in the 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Check the garlic and if it isn’t golden brown, then put it in for another 10 minutes or so. When it’s ready you’ll want it to look like this:
You’ll notice that you can take a butter knife or a fork (or your fingers if you are impatient) and easily pop each clove out of its little home. Now you can eat it straight, put it on toast, or add it to any dish that needs some garlicky richness. Enjoy! Here’s a printable recipe:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare each head of garlic by removing as much of the papery skin as you can while leaving the bulb intact. Cut across the cloves about 1/3 from the tip of the bulb so you expose a cross section of the cloves. Trim any cloves you miss with a paring knife.
- Place each bulb of garlic on a square sheet of foil. Drizzle olive oil over the exposed cloves on each bulb. Then wrap the bulbs tightly into individual foil balls.
- Place foil-wrapped garlic into a baking dish and bake for at least 30 minutes. Check one bulb. If the garlic is not yet golden brown and soft, put back in oven for another 10 minutes. Check again and repeat if needed. Once done, remove garlic from foil and you can easily scoop out the roasted cloves to eat or use in recipes.
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