For those of you who like, or even loooove, garlic – this is for you!  Or even if you aren’t normally a garlic lover, give this Roasted Garlic a try!  Roasting the garlic really tames it down.  It becomes soft, golden, creamy and delicious! You can use the cloves to make roasted garlic mashed potatoes, some awesome garlic bread, dice it up and throw it in almost anything!  For those of you who don’t like your house smelling like garlic (my dad is one of those particular individuals 😉 ), once those babies start baking there is no way you can say it doesn’t just smell, well completely awesome! You will be thinking of what dish you can throw them into!

So roasting garlic, does it sound intimidating?  It may for some, but I can assure you that it couldn’t be easier! These are the simple steps:

*Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

1) Take a head or garlic (or 2, 3, 4…you can make a lot at once and store in the fridge for later use)

2) Cut off the top 1/4 of the head of garlic so all of the cloves are exposed

3) Place on a piece of aluminum foil (I usually use two pieces about the same lenth and criss cross them for a double layer)

4) Drizzle generously with olive oil

5) Season with salt and pepper (throw some herbs in there if you want…maybe a little parsley or basil!)

6) Bring foil up and crimp together to make a tight seal.

7) Put into some sort of baking dish and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or so.

The cloves should be soft and easily squeezed from their papery home.  Once they are cooled a bit, just pick up the whole head and squeeze those babies out!

Use them right away in whatever you will be adding that yummy goodness to…

Or… put them in a sealed container in the fridge (dump all of the oil it was baking in with those cloves to store it with). That is what this next picture is of – a container that has been in the fridge for a couple of days.  Enjoy!

Shelley.