One of our secrets for adding deep flavor to quick soups (or any soups, for that matter) is to use roasted garlic. Although it can take up to an hour to roast garlic, it's easy to make ahead and freeze so you always have this aromatic, sweet ingredient at your fingertips.
We have shared three techniques for roasting garlic: baked whole, baked cloves, and on the stovetop. In all cases, let the garlic cool after roasting it and then remove any papery skins.
To freeze whole cloves, spread them out on a baking sheet and place in the freezer. Once frozen, store the cloves in a sealed plastic bag or container.
You can also mash the roasted garlic and freeze it in teaspoon or tablespoon measures in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop out the cubes and store them in a sealed plastic bag or container.
In addition to soups (try this Post-Holiday Restorative Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup!), frozen roasted garlic may be used in pasta sauces, mashed potatoes, and more.
Related: Quick Tip: Freeze Caramelized Onions
(Image: Faith Durand)
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Is that a picture of garlic?? Doesn't look like the kind of garlic I purchase...
I totally read the title wrong, I though this was some weird technique, freeze roasting.
Nonetheless this is a great idea. I've been freezing all my prep lately, it's been saving me so much time.
I didn't know you could freeze roasted garlic...I'm definitely going to give this a try!
Adam Laz, I had the same reaction to the photo. I believe its elephant garlic, but it may be some other onion/shallot/garlic varietal.
Those look a whole lot like shallots or maybe pearl onions...definitely not garlic. They're quite pretty though!
I think you just greatly improved my life! I could eat roasted garlic all the time, but don't often have the foresight to make it. I think my freezer will soon be filled with roasted garlic cloves.
(By the way, I'm curious about the picture, too!)
That is exactly like the garlic I get at Farmer's markets and from my CSA. Not cloves, but bulbs. Don't know why it looks like that, but the flavor and texture are definitely garlic, not onions, shallots or any other onion-relative that I've tasted.
If you plant garlic in the early spring (as opposed to the fall and over-wintering under mulch her in MI), it usually doesn't 'head up' into separate cloves; just one bulb or perhaps 2 cloves.
Is roasted garlic less pungent than raw garlic? Is the technique to roast it before peeling it? I have started broiling in the toaster oven peeled garlic cloves for use with my killer hummus that I make twice a month. This has to be why it's now better than ever. Maybe I should up the amount of garlic since it's broiled or whatever it's doing in the toaster oven?
It's garlic. A lot of the heirloom varieties have streaks of red/purple in the papery skins.