So I’m going to start doing a series of recipes that I would consider “basics”. Simple recipes you can enjoy on their own, or use to create ingredients that you can use in a number of applications. My in-laws have an influx of garlic every year from their home garden, so I thought I’d do something different with some of it this year.
Garlic lovers will probably just spread this warm garlic right on a piece of bread and enjoy. Now I enjoy garlic just as much as the next person, but I can’t seem to just eat it just by itself. If you feel the same, you can mix it with butter, salt and pepper to make a spread for garlic bread. Or with sour cream, as a topping for your baked potato. It’s also delicious tossed in with any pasta dish, added to mashed potatoes, salad dressing or spread on pizza as a topping. So many possibilities! Once it’s roasted, that harsh bite is gone. The garlic turns creamy, nutty, and spreadable. Mmmmmmm.
Roasted Garlic, adapted from Simply Recipes
1 Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2 Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.
3 Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.
4 Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.
