Roasted Garlic

Ahhhh I HEART garlic!!  In Colorado we went to this awesome restaurant - and they had roasted garlic and bread....since then, I've been trying to recreate the taste, and I finally did :)  YUMMY!!!

Ingredients:
1 head garlic
Olive oil
Salt
Foil

Take a whole head of garlic. You want the remaining cloves to still be attached to the base. Peel off any excess paper around the edges. You’ll want the cloves themselves to still be in their papers but if you’ve got a lot of excess around the edges just pull them off.

Cut the top part off like in the picture. Just enough to expose the cloves- like a little less than 1/3 of the head. Place the cut head on a piece of foil.

Sprinkle with a little kosher salt and drizzle with a couple teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil. I drizzle some on and wait for it to soak down into the garlic and then pour on some more.  Then grab the edges of the foil and just pull them up, sealing tightly.  Toss that bad boy in the oven, directly on the rack. If it’s the only thing in your oven, bake at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes.

The foil ball should feel soft when it’s done.  When it’s done, take out of the oven and let cool for a minute. When you open up your cute little package you’ll have this glorious, soft, caramelized, yummy stuff.  The soft cloves will just pop right out of there. You can either squeeze them out, or use a little fork to pop them out.

(It will keep for a week or more in your fridge in an air-tight container. You can also freeze it and just grab a spoonful as you need it.)

 One of my favorite ways to eat roasted garlic is fresh out of the oven, rubbed onto warm crusty bread.  Sprinkled with fresh Parmesan? Even better....

Other ideas:

-Spread on crostini before topping with Bruschetta
-Add to mashed potatoes
-Spread on bread (makes a great appetizer)
-Add to pasta dishes
-Soups
-Sauces
-Add to mayo
-Use in salad dressings
-Add to bread dough just before kneading