Roasted Garlic
Sweet, Tender and Big Flavor
- Servings: 2 whole garlics.
It's easy to roast whole heads of garlic, turning the garlic into a sweet and nutty ingredient to add flavor to a compound butter, a salad dressing, mashed potatoes, or as a compliment to a piece of roasted meat or fish. The result is very similar to a garlic confit but without all the oil. Plus you can roast the heads of garlic at the same time you may be roasting a chicken or leg of lamb.
Cook 2 at once and you can save any leftovers in an airtight container with a coating of olive oil and refrigerating. The garlic may start out harsh and raw, but once roasted it becomes tender and sweet.
Ingredients
- 2 heads of garlic
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 400º F (if you are cooking a roast at the same time, just keep the oven temperature as you have it for the roast, extending the time for the garlic if it's a lower temperature).
- Trim off the top 1/4-inch or so off the top and place the whole garlic heads in a baking dish.
- Drizzle with the olive oil so to coat the entire heads. Cover with foil and roast for about an hour or until the garlic heads are soft and you can see that the cloves within have started to darken and turn golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and when cool enough to handle, take each garlic head in your hand and squeeze each clove from the skin -- they should slip out easily.
