Technique: Roasting Peeled Garlic

Today is National Garlic Day and we can't let it go by without another garlic tip! We've already talked about our unabashed love of pre-peeled garlic. We realized recently that we could roast these jumbo peeled cloves just like a regular papered head, and we've found this to be a great and easy way to use up extra garlic.

After the garlic is roasted, we like to mash it with the oil to mix into fillings, or leave the cloves whole to be rubbed on toasts or bread with soft cheese.

To roast peeled garlic cloves: Heat oven to 375ºF. Line a pie pan or baking dish with foil. Put in a handful of garlic cloves in the center then drizzle olive oil on top and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Fold up the foil packet and seal tightly. Bake for about 45-60 minutes or until soft.

Comments (6)

This made me think of the meal I made last week, Alton Brown's 40 Cloves and a Chicken (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_16200,00.html), which I combined with Kristin's Braised carrots which you featured here. It was wonderful, and had I thought of it, I should have made it today.

I'm a huge fan of roasted garlic and try to always have some on hand.

OK, now that I've said something on topic, why don't we have Open Threads in the Kitchen? I have lots of random questions.

Por ejemplo... I'm about to move into a kitchen with very limited cabinet space. I'd like to put my pots and pans on the wall, but... they're not pretty. :( Except for the cast iron, which is of course super heavy. So... 1) can I hang my cast iron (dutch oven, wok, and skillet) from one of those cheap Ikea racks? 2) If I pare down to those 3 things, plus 1 medium size stainless steel saucepan, is that all I need?

mjoe-

My pots and pans are all old, and don't match, not to mention pretty ooglay, but all seem to look great when hung up (rustic, even?). Also, the Ikea racks and bars are pretty sturdy, what I'd look into is your wall. My walls are so thin and old that I had to make sure and find studs for mine so they wouldn't come tumbling down like my old under cabinet shelves. Now I have a saucier, large wok and a skillet hanging care free!

If you like to have pasta with sauce, I think you will need two large pots. I have a dutch over I make my pasta sauce in. But no other large pot to make pasta in so I am always crowding my noodles.

Thanks, both.

"Crowding my noodles" sounds like a euphemism for something else. I have no idea what, honestly, it just sounds like it should be. I think I'll try it. The next time somebody asks me what I've been up to, for example, maybe I'll say "Oh, you know, just crowding my noodles."

I think I can make pasta in the dutch oven and sauce in the saucepan, no? I remembered, I also have another huge pot cheap and ugly and I think aluminum? Yuk. I'd love to get rid of it but I also love chili, and I can't make chili in the dutch oven cuz the cast iron no like the tomatoes. It's stupid to have a pot that you use for making only one dish, but there it is.