I Love the Smell of Roasted Garlic in the Morning.
Not to rip off Robert Duvall’s line from Apocalypse Now, but it is true. I love the smell of roasted garlic in the morning. The other day I was required to roast off about three pounds of garlic. I put the peeled cloves in a one half hotel pan covered them in an olive oil blend then roasted them at 350° for about 40 minutes. (Your time will vary since most home cooks will typically roast off much less. Start checking after about 15 minutes)
When the garlic was soft and just starting to turn golden brown I pulled the pan out of the oven. Since the garlic cloves were covered in the hot oil, I knew the garlic would continue to cook for several more minutes.
It was the smell of the roasted garlic permeating the kitchen that inspired me to write this essay.
Many people think of the pungent aroma of fresh garlic and literally turn their noses at that eye searing, breath destroying, friendship taxing reek, that I am sure has been the cause of many failed marriages.
That is not the case with roasted garlic. Roasted garlic smells sweet, warm and inviting and the taste more than matches the aroma. The taste is mellow, nutty and like caramel and there is no hint of the bite from raw aromatics.
Another technique.
I’ve mentioned one roasting technique above and that was great for peeled garlic cloves how most restaurant get their garlic. This technique works well and there is an added bonus, garlic oil!
For home, where we get our garlic in bulbs, a different technique works best. Take a knife and cut the top off the bulb. Rub the exposed cloves with olive oil, salt and pepper. Crumple the bulb in some foil and roast until the aroma fills the house and the cloves are soft. Allow this to cool then squeeze the cloves out of the bulb.
Uses
What to do with the roasted garlic? Anything! Well, short of your breakfast cereal. Lets start with mashed potatoes. I like to chop up or just mash a couple of cloves and place them in a saucepan with cream and butter. Let this warm until just before the boil. Turn off the heat and let the dairy steep with the garlic. Use this dairy and garlic to make your mashers.
Oh, if you used the first method of roasting garlic you will have a supply of garlic oil available. Add this into the mashers also!
You can use the roasted garlic in Alfredo sauce or bake them off in bread or biscuits. Use them in your next marinara or mash them up and mix them into your next batch of meatballs. I even like to just spread a clove or two on a piece of toast.
Oh! I almost forgot about the oil! Use the oil to sauté vegetables. shrimp, scallops, to toss pasta or just for dipping crusty bread.
Storage
A final word on storage. I’ve read warnings about botulism connected with garlic oil but there have been very few cases of people actually getting sick from contaminated oil. At culinary school we always refrigerated our infused oil and roasted cloves. My local health department recommends refrigeration also. Lets play it safe and refrigerate both the roasted garlic and the oil.
There are many more uses for the oil and cloves that I haven’t mentioned. You can use the roasted cloves as a substitute for raw garlic and the oil can be used to add a little garlic flavor instead of plain oil. Roasting garlic is simple and easy and can help elevate any dish. Maybe not brownies… I’ll get back to you on that!
~T
