Magnificent Whole Roasted Garlic

Look at them - magnificent aren't they? And so blooming easy. Little flowers of gooey glory.

The roasting means they become very soft, lose the sharpness of raw garlic and develop a delightful rich, mellow flavour. Use these for dips, soups, dressings, salads, spread on toast (seriously) or just to gnaw on. Garlic is good for you, you know.

An important factor to remember is that you must either eat them alone, or make sure everyone has some. Breath balance. Don't be the person left out.

You can also use them to make boring dishes look beautiful, plonk one of these in the centre and you're good to go.




Whole roasted garlic

Quantities: How ever many your little heart desires

Timing: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Kitchen Stuff: Baking tray, kitchen foil, oven

Ingredients:
Garlic heads (as desired)
Extra virgin olive oil (as needed)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees.

1. PEEL: Remove the outer layers of the garlic heads, leaving only the last film containing the cloves.

2. CUT & DRIZZLE: Tear your kitchen foil into pieces big enough to wrap each garlic head. Cut off the top of the garlic, revealing the tip of the cloves. Place the garlic heads on their piece of kitchen foil, cloves facing up. Drizzle the top generously with olive oil until it soaks into the garlic. 

3. WRAP & BAKE: Wrap the kitchen foil around the garlic into little parcels (foil closed at the top). Place on a baking tray and bake for 45 mins or so until the garlic in the centre is soft and squidgy. The longer you bake it the more the garlic will brown and caramelize, so bake as you wish (I did 45 minutes).

4. SQUIDGE & GO: Remove your garlic from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes or 
so. Carefully open the parcels (don't burn yourself) and be sure to use the leftover garlicky olive oil  for something exciting. To remove the garlic cloves, squidge them individually out of their skin. Have fun. 

Roasted garlic and butternut squash soup with sourdough (seriously awesome serving suggestion, recipe to follow)

5: KEEPING IT: The roasted garlic will keep well in the fridge (wrapped) for a couple of weeks and can freeze for 3 months or so.