Roasted Garlic
“What? What the heck is this on my plate!” I thought as the waiter as The Dogwood presented me with some mutated patch of white pebbles in an odd shell covered in caramel brown. This is all despite the fact that Grace and I had purposely ordered “Roasted heads of garlic” from the menu only because we haven’t tried it before. Apparently an hour of baking or so cuts down the sharp bite of Edward-repelling aromatic compounds, calming it down into a land of rich nutty buttery goodness.
My sources:
- Simply Recipes told me to cut a quarter inch off the head of each clove, peel off the outer skin and to leave the individual skins intact. It also instructs to put a couple TBs of olive oil on each head and roast in an over at 400 degrees for 30-35min.
- The Hungry Mouse gave me ways to use roasted garlic, including making roasted garlic compound butter and making garlic infused olive oil. I focused only on roasting garlic. It recommended 350 degrees at 30 to 45 min.
- Epicurious said 300 at 45 min to 1 hour. It also called for thyme and black peppercorns.
- My mom told me to go do my homework.
What I ended up doing:
- Cut 3 heads of garlic each at about a quarter inch from the top (of the bulb, not the stem)
- Cover each with 1-2TB of olive oil, let soak in. Pour a bit more olive oil on top.
- Put in baking pan and bake at 375F for an hour
- Watch Arrested Development
Didn’t turn out to be as caramel-colored as that of The Dogwood, but did turn out creamy and nutty. I say that letting it sit in the oven for another 15 min or until a little more brown would have made it better.
