Smear it on some crusty bread, whip it into a vinaigrette, use it as a white pizza sauce. Roasted Garlic is delicious and simple, a great addition to your recipe arsenal.
Cleonice’s white bean dip gets its rich flavor from roasted garlic. When you roast garlic you get a sweet, nutty, gentle garlic flavor. Because the garlic cooks and caramelizes without any cuts breaking the cell walls causing the release of the sharp-flavored alliin. (We actually candied roasted garlic for a couple of Garlic Festivals and it was pretty darn tasty).
We use two methods of roasting garlic. It’s really your preference. This first method I like to use on the grill and add to salad dressing or spread on bread.
Method one:
Take a whole head of garlic, place it in a piece of tin-foil big enough to wrap it, cup the tin-foil around the bottom of the bulb with one hand, and drizzle olive oil over the bulb with the other. Wrap up the garlic loosely bringing the corners up to keep the oil in the package. Roast in the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes then check by squeezing the sides of the bulb (with tin-foil still on). Alternatively, if you’re grilling, put the garlic package on the edge of your grill as soon as your coals are hot enough to set the grill on top. You want the garlic to be soft enough to squeeze out of the individual clove skins.
When the garlic is finished roasting, you can squeeze the garlic right our of its skin.
Method two:
First peel the garlic. We use the smash then peel method here. Cutting off the root ends if they are starting to grow.
Place the peeled garlic in a pie plate or other shallow oven proof pan.
Add about a half a cup of olive oil, enough so the garlic is at least half covered with oil. Mix it around to make sure the tops of the garlic are coated with oil.
Roast in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.
Your roasted garlic is ready to use.
I like to use the first method of roasting when I already have the oven (or the grill) going for something else. Roasting whole takes longer, but you don’t have to peel the garlic by hand first, plus you’re less likely to burn it since there aren’t any little pieces or edges to burn before the center roasts.
The second method is basically a garlic confit. It speeds up your cooking time and gives you a rich flavored olive oil to use as well. This is great for the White Bean and Sage Dip (recipe coming soon), can be used for the oil for a vinaigrette, or another something special to dip your bread in. If you love this stuff, you can make a bunch of garlic confit like this and store it in your fridge for at least a week.
- 1 head garlic, roasted
- ⅔ cup olive oil (use as much garlic oil you have from roasting and add extra virgin olive oil to get to ⅔ cup.
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup chopped fresh basil, italian parsley or a combination (optional)
- Sea Salt
- Black Pepper
- Roast garlic using either method above, reserve oil from roasting.
- Mash garlic then whisk together with oil and vinegar.
- Season with Salt and pepper to taste.
- Add herbs and stir thoroughly before tossing with grilled vegetables or salad of your choice.
- Balsamic vinegar may be substituted for red wine vinegar.