Have you ever roasted garlic?  Whereas regular garlic has a sharper, raw bite to it, roasted garlic is slow baked in the oven until it is soft, creamy, nutty and almost sweet.  In fact, the longer you roast garlic the sweeter to the taste it becomes.  (I usually let mine roast for an entire hour – I like it nice and caramelized.)  Roasting garlic is so easy you can literally throw it in the oven any time you are cooking something.  There is no need to stress over the temperature of the oven being “correct.”  If you have something cooking at a lower temperature you can still throw the garlic in with it, it will just take a little longer.

Wondering what you can use roasted garlic for?  My favorite is to mix it in to creamy mashed potatoes with some sharp cheddar cheese, but there are endless possibilities.  Spread it directly on toast, make garlic bread, or mix with mayo for sandwiches or burgers.  You can add it to soups, salads, dressings or dips.  Mix into hamburger meat, use it as seasoning on steak, pork or chicken, or add to pasta dishes.  You can even just use in place of regular garlic in your favorite recipes!

Want to make more than one head so you have some on hand?  Throw as many heads in the foil as you like!  You don’t need to wrap them separately.  Once the garlic is roasted, squeeze out the cloves in to an airtight container – roasted garlic will last 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator, or up to 3 months in the freezer.

Ingredients:

• A large head of garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to season

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Remove any of the flakey, papery outside layers of the garlic bulb.
3. Cut 1/4-1/2 inch off the top – making sure you cut a little at the top around the sides too so all of the bulbs are slightly exposed.
4. Place the garlic head cut side up on a piece of foil and drizzle with about 1/2 Tbsp olive oil.  Lightly season with salt and pepper as desired.
5. Wrap the foil up around the bulb and roast in the oven directly on the rack for 45 minutes to an hour.  (The longer you roast the sweeter it will get.  I usually do the full hour.)
6. Remove from oven, carefully open up the foil and let sit and cool for 10-15 minutes, then squeeze out the cloves of garlic in to a small airtight container and use or refrigerate/freeze immediately.  (You can also use a fork to help you get the cloves out as needed.)