Roasted Garlic

My local grocery store had a pound of garlic for $1.50 - a fantastic price and a LOT of garlic.  After getting home I looked at that garlic and thought What am I gonna do with all this garlic??  Chicken with 40 cloves came to mind immediately, it's delicious no doubt, but we were having a heat streak and it just didn't seem seasonally appropriate.  That's when I thought I'd roast it!  Roasted garlic had it's hayday back in the early 90's.  It may not be the uber hot flavor anymore but roasted garlic is still delicious and deserves to be known about.  And because I like to use my blog as my own cookbook/reference tool, I thought it was high time I posted this easy yet very important recipe.

Here's a few ideas of where you can use your roasted garlic:  

hummus 

smear on toast for flavorful bruschetta

add to soups & stews

add to mashed potatoes

vinaigrette and salad dressings

marinades

add to rice for a light garlicky scent

Roasted Garlic 

whole garlic heads (as many as you want, there's about 15 cloves in each head on average)

drizzle of olive oil

sprinkle of kosher salt

aluminum foil for making a roasting pan to hold garlic

Cut the tops off the garlic heads, going down about 1/3 of the way to expose the garlic cloves.  Discard or compost the cut off tops.

Make a small bowl that will hold the garlic heads upright out of aluminum foil.  Crumple the sides to support the garlic.  Place on a sheet pan and put the garlic heads in your foil boat.

Drizzle tops with 1/2 t oil, allowing it to soak into the cloves.  Repeat with another 1/2 t oil on each head (1t each total).  Sprinkle the oiled heads with kosher salt.

Place sheet tray in a preheated 350F oven.  Roast garlic until it's turned golden and smells roasted & sweet.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Squeeze garlic head to remove cloves.  Use where ever you would use fresh garlic for a softer more mellow garlic flavor, or store in fridge until ready for use (good for up to 1 month).