by Dominique Didier

I typically roast about 3 bulbs at a time and store them in the refrigerator. Once roasted, garlic has a creamy texture and is sweeter and less pungent than when fresh. Roasted garlic is also a good substitute when you want the taste of garlic in a recipe, but you don’t want the overpowering sharpness of fresh garlic.

Ingredients:

1 or more heads of garlic (I recommend 3)
1 TBSP olive oil (use a little more if you do more than 3 heads of garlic)

Preheat your oven to 400° F
Prepare the garlic. If you’ve tried to cut the top off of these garlic bulbs you already know that the hard neck of this garlic is nearly impossible to cut through. Instead of cutting off the top of your garlic bulb, take a sharp knife and cut around the bottom of the garlic bulb, cutting around the central stem. Once the cut ends of the cloves drop off you can easily pull the central stalk out.
Place your garlic bulbs on a sheet of aluminum foil and drizzle with the olive oil. Make sure the cut ends get covered with the olive oil.
Wrap the foil tightly around the garlic bulbs and roast the entire package in the oven for 35 minutes.
Cool and peel the cloves. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator. You can also cover the cloves (whole or mashed) with a little olive oil and freeze them. And what will use this roasted garlic for?

Smear on toasted bread for instant garlic bread (add tomato and/or avocado for an amazing sandwich!)
Mash with mayonnaise for a quick aoli; or add to your favorite condiment
Add to salad dressings
Mash into your next batch of guacamole
Mix with olive oil and some herbs for dipping bread
Add to soups, stews, or casseroles
Smash onto a baked potato, or add to your mashed potatoes