How to Roast Garlic and Tips to Use It

How To Roast Garlic & Recipe Tips
Roasting garlic is quite easy to do and it’s so delicious when slathered on French bread, mixed with cooked vegetables and pasta or added to any number of dishes.

This is a great way to enhance every day meals, you can even mix it with ground meats or rub over roasts. Very delicious!

Tip:

a.. Prepare a few bulbs of garlic at once and you can make batches of garlic butter to freeze. You can also freeze the roasted garlic by itself, or even refrigerate in an airtight container to consume during the week.
How To Roast Garlic
a.. Take a whole bulb of garlic and cut the top off, about a 1/4? – 1/2?, removing enough so that the top of each garlic clove is cut off.
b.. Place the bulb (cut side up) on a sheet of tinfoil and drizzle the top lightly with olive oil (about 1 teaspoon).
c.. Fold the sides of the tinfoil up to prevent the oil from running over, but don’t seal the foil packet–leave the top wide open. You want to roast the garlic, not steam it. If you have a ramekin, garlic roaster or even a foil pie plate, you could use that too. If you’re making a few at a time, you can use a muffin tin.
d.. Place in a heated oven (350°) for anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes. When the cloves are golden and soft and squishy like a paste, that's when they’re done.
e.. Remove from oven, allow it to cool enough for you to handle then squeeze the garlic and each clove should squish out the cut end easily.
Some people prefer preparing it without olive oil, that’s fine too. Others don’t bother cutting the top off first, you don’t have to. It’s just easier to squeeze out the roasted garlic with the top tips removed.

Another method you can try:

a.. Cut the whole bulb evenly in half (across the width, not the length). Drizzle olive oil on the bottom of an oven glass dish or small roasting pan and place both halves of the bulb cut side down on top of the oil. Cook in a 350° oven for about an hour until cloves are very soft and squishy (same idea as first method).

A Few Ideas For Using Roasted Garlic

a.. Spread on thick slices of French bread, bagels, sourdough bread, crackers (can mix with a bit of olive oil first and some grated parmesan too)
b.. Add to mashed potatoes
c.. Add to cooked vegetables or pasta (try mixing the roasted garlic with a bit of melted butter then drizzle over dish)
d.. Add to salad dressings
e.. Add to sour cream or mayonnaise

Garlic Butter Recipe:

1 lb butter at room temperature
3 whole bulbs roasted garlic *You may prefer more or less-make according to your taste
Dried parsley or basil or your favorite herb

a.. Mix ingredients well, adjust measurements to taste then shape butter into a block (or roll) and slice into generous single serving butter pats. Wrap individually and freeze a bunch in freezer bags or a sealed plastic container. Take butter pats out to thaw and use as you need them.
Storage Helpers
Refrigerate Roasted Garlic

a.. After squishing out the roasted garlic, put in a small glass container, seal, then refrigerate. Can add olive oil if you like. Use within the week.

Freeze Roasted Garlic

a.. Squeeze onto spoon until you measure 1 tablespoon of roasted garlic, then slide the garlic into an ice cube tray slot. Freeze the tray then pop out the cubes of garlic and place in a freezer bag or container and store in the freezer. When you need a tablespoon of roasted garlic for a recipe, you’ll know to take out 1 cube.