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!