How To: Roasting Garlic
Garlic, when fresh is assertive and savory, yet a mellow sweetness is unlocked when it is roasted. We show you how to achieve this culinary metamorphosis and suggest some ways to use it.
Roasting a whole garlic bulb produces soft golden garlic with a mellow sweetness. You can roast as many heads of garlic bulbs (or heads) at a time as you wish, just as long as they are roasted in an single layer and not on top of one another. Roasted garlic has so many culinary uses: mashed with cannellini beans for a crostini topping, to flavor butter and oil for seasoning vegetables and meats, or to add a mellow sweetness to vinaigrettes and sauces.
How to Roast a Head of Garlic
Preheat the oven to 400°. Cut ¼-inch off the top of the garlic head to expose the tips of all the cloves, snipping a little piece of the top of any clove that is off to the sides (this will make it easier to squeeze the soft garlic out once it is roasted). Place the bulb on a piece of aluminum foil, and drizzle with a little olive oil, rubbing it into the cut tips so they don’t dry out. Tightly enclose the foil around the bulb(s) and roast until it is soft, golden brown, and very sweet smelling, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Allow the garlic to cool for 10 minutes before turning it upside down and squeezing the soft garlic out of the top. Spaghettini with Roasted Garlic
