Roasting Garlic 101

Until recently I must confess I had bought roasted garlic in jars.
I'm not too sure why I never made it before, it really is so simple.

I guess the only reason I can muster up for you is that if you aren't using your oven for anything else it is a tad waste of electricity.
The reward of about an hour of oven use however is warm, soft, creamy, roasted greatness!

Garlic is a wonderful bulb that has been used not only for cooking but for medicinal purposes as well.
Did you know that the stickiness on the insides has been used to mend porcelain and glass in China?
I'm not too sure why I know this, Jeopardy perhaps?

I actually have bulbs already sprouting in my garden as I type and I have to say I am pretty excited!  I went out the other day to clean up the yard and noticed some sprouting action.
I didn't realize it was so hearty (darn cold winters that drag on and on and on here in Ontario)

The roasted garlic is a great accompaniment to the plain mashed potato, using them in dips is superb, even making dressings with it punches up the flavors.  Really, anything that you make with regular chopped garlic you can substitute with the roasted kind.
Experiment and Enjoy!

I'm listening to: Snow Patrol


Roasted Garlic

1 head of garlic
1 tbsp. olive oil
aluminum foil

Get ready, this is SOO complicated....
Place a piece of aluminum foil (slightly larger than the bulb so that you can gather and close) on your work surface.
Remove the outer layers of the skin.
Cut the top off, exposing the heads.
Drizzle the olive oil over the top.
Close the foil around the bulb.
Bake in a preheated oven 400F for about an hour.
Remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes.
Squeeze the bulb into a small bowl.

Done!