Roasted Caramelized Garlic

In my opinion, one of the easiest things to do that has one of the largest flavor payoffs is to caramelize garlic. Garlic can be overpowering in its raw state and can also turn bitter when overcooked. Garlic is very hearty and can turn out big flavor if you just follow some simple rules. First, when cooking with raw garlic, always let it be one of the last things you add to the pan. This prevents it from burning and turning bitter. Secondly, I recommend using fresh garlic whenever possible. Using the peeled garlic cloves is fine as well, but in my experience, the minced garlic has lost its flavor and texture before you even use it. When I use minced garlic, it seems to turn very hard and bitter.

We are going to use a whole unpeeled garlic for this post.

Ingredients

1 whole unpeeled garlic clove

1 teaspoon olive oil

pinch of salt

Preparation

Set up your cutting board for garlic clove preparation.

Cutting board setup and ready to start

Clean any loose skin off the garlic

Cleaning loose skin off garlic clove

With your knife, cut the top of the garlic head off.

Cutting the top of the garlic head off

Take some foil and form a cup around the head of garlic. Put the garlic top into your stock trimming pile.

Form the foil around the head of garlic

Pour the olive oil over the top of the garlic head.

Pouring olive oil over the top of the garlic head

Add the pinch of salt

Adding salt

Seal the foil up tightly.

Foil sealed tightly

Place foil with garlic head on a baking sheet

Sealed garlic on baking sheet

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and roast the garlic for a minimum of 35 minutes. Begin checking for the golden brown color every 10 minutes until it achieves this desired color.

Garlic after roasting for 35 minutes (not finished)

Garlic needs to be brown across the top to indicate that it is finished roasting

Finished garlic after 45-50 minutes roasting in oven

Remove garlic from oven and let it cool for 15 minutes. To remove the roasted garlic from the skin, you simply squeeze the clove and the garlic will pop out.

Squeezing out the roasted garlic

How much does one head render? around 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of roasted garlic

Roasted garlic ready to use

What can roasted garlic be used for? Lots of things like dips, sauces and flavoring for casseroles. In a future blog post, we are going to make white wine, lemon, roasted garlic and herb sauce.

Roasted herb chicken with white wine, roasted garlic, parsley and lemon sauce. Served with roasted parsley potatoes

You can use this caramelized garlic in very similar way that you would butter in a sauce or on bread.

Bon Appetit!