Roasting Garlic

Thanks to Bobby Flay, I love to roast garlic. I was looking at Boy Meets Grill, one of my favorite grilling cooking shows on Food Network and he roasted some garlic. I can't even remember what he was making that day...all I could think of was how good that roasted garlic must taste like so I remember that I immediately downloaded the recipe, ran to the grocery store to buy some fresh garlic. There's so many dishes that you can make with it and the aroma from the kitchen while they're in the oven! Oh Mama! I use it in soups, dips, on bread, just about everything I cook has garlic in it.

There's a lot of ingredients and spices that I love to keep in my kitchen and one of them is definitely garlic. It just has such a way of spicing up any dish. Just rubbing it on french bread and toasting it is so good. So I've got a few recipes here using roasted garlic.

If I don't have fresh garlic in the frig, I always keep garlic pepper around. My favorite is the McCormick California Style. To me, if I'm using dried garlic, I want something that I can really taste the garlic flavor.  I've even drizzled some EVOO on some day old bread and then rubbed some of the dried garlic pepper on it and then grilled it...YUMMO! Roasted garlic bread is even better.

Even Purple garlic is great for roasting and has an even more sweeter taste. 

My Easy Roasted Garlic Recipe:

Ingredients:

fresh garlic gloves

kosher salt

EVOO

There's different ways to roast garlic so here's mine: I preheat my oven to 400 degrees F. Then I remove the outer leaves of the garlic and cut off the heads. Then I put them in aluminum foil in a pan, drizzle them with EVOO to coat and sprinkle salt on them. I wrap the foil around the garlic and roast in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the cloves feel soft when pressed. Then I let them cool off before I handle them. Once cooled, I use my fingers to squeeze the cloves out, they're very soft at this point and so good. I refrigerate what I don't use. 

Here's a couple more great recipes to use roasted garlic in.

Roasted Garlic and Almond Spread Recipe

Ingredients:

16 cloves garlic, peeled

1/4 c. unblanched sliced almonds, chopped

3 tbsp. olive oil

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 c. sour cream

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. Worchestershire sauce

2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp. dried rosemary leaves, crushed

2 shallots, chopped

3 tbsp. whipping cream

1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce (or any hot sauce)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. 

Place garlic in a shallow, oven-proof casserole, drizzle with olive oil, and toss to coat. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in the oil for at least 30 minutes. Place almonds in a heavy frypan over high heat and toast the almonds until they are lightly browned. Let cool. 

Scrape garlic and oil into a food processor and puree until smooth. Add cream cheese, sour cream, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Process until well-blended. Add the almonds, parsley, rosemary, shallots, whipping cream and Tabasco sauce. Pulse until incorporated, but not completely smooth. 

Scrape spread into a glass serving dish and chill for 4 hours. Serve with melba toast, butter crackers, matzoh crackers, or saltines. May be made up to a day in advance. Refrigerate leftovers in a covered container and use within 1 day. 

Roasted Garlic Soup with Thyme Croutons

Ingredients:

4 heads garlic

3 c. milk

1 c. cream

Fresh thyme

Kosher Salt

Pepper

EVOO

Coat the garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in a 350-degree oven till cloves are golden brown, about 45 minutes. Once the garlic is roasted, cut the head in half, from side to side, exposing all the cloves. Squeeze both halves into a bowl, discarding any skin. Pick out any fiber from the skin.

Bring the roasted garlic, milk, cream and thyme to a simmer. Allow simmering for 10 minutes. Puree in a blender, then strain through a very fine mesh sieve. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with Thyme

Croutons, and a light drizzle of Extra-virgin olive oil. Serves: 4.

For the Croutons

Ingredients:

1 small loaf French bread

Olive oil

Fresh thyme

Kosher Salt

Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the crust from the bread with a knife. Cut the loaf into very small cubes. Toss the cubes with a small amount of olive oil, fresh chopped thyme, salt and pepper. Place the cubes on a tray and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Serve while warm. 

You also need to check out The Hungry Mouse's post on Garlic Three Ways cause she has a step-by-step method of roasting garlic and using it in three ways...it's an awesome post!