Roasted Garlic

Gourmet meals always have that one difference that sets them apart from other meals. Sometimes it the sauce and other times it's the selection. If you want to turn an good average meal into a remarkable one, this is what you are looking for.

Have you ever had one of those days that start off normal and seem to blow up underneath you?

They are what I call "landmine days". They are those days when it's my turn to cook and at the last minute, Sherry reminds me that we have dinner guests - booked last week. I have already started the cooking - plain fare (but still good of course) but not the type of meal to impress dinner guests.

That's when I pull out one of my highlights like roasted garlic. This is one of those highlights for a meal that works best with a normal meal, rather than as an extra to a gourmet meal. It looks stunningly different, tastes great and very few people would have ever tried it.

Roasted garlic straight from the oven, ready to serve.

There is another trick with this recipe too. Roasted garlic is easily mashed and spread and makes a fantastic pate like spread for bruschetta or crackers too.

Although garlic is very expensive, it is easily grown in the garden or container (see our Garlic page in the Herbs section) and two bulbs will give you a small basket full of fresh garlic. Homegrown garlic tastes so much better.

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For this we'll use three bulbs of garlic.
With a sharp knife, cut the top 2cms of the pointed end of each bulb. You want to cut the top off each clove.

Stand the bulb in a puddle of virgin oil for 2 minutes. The dry skin will soak up some of the oil. When it is roasted, it will seal in the moisture and stop it drying out. It will also help caramalise the garlic and bring out the natural sugars.

Now drizzle some oil over the bulb so it will run down deep into the cloves during the cooking process.

Place your bulbs on a tray, cover with aluminium foil and roast for 45 to 60 minutes in a moderate oven. Because it is fairly low, it should slide under your roasting meat in the oven. Add the tray of garlic about the same time you add the roast vegetables.

And the finished result will be caramalised and sweet roasted garlic.

Roasted garlic, ready to serve

To use this for bruschetta or as a vege pate, on crackers, rather than a served vegetable, allow to cool and pull the cloves apart. Squeeze the bottom of each clove and the roasted flesh will eject. It will spread with a knife, like butter onto your bruschetta or crackers.

Serve with half a pitted olive of a strip of roasted red or green capsicum for a fully vege apertiser or with a small square of lightly fried bacon for the carnivores in the party.

Check out or Garlic page in the Herbs section for a recipe for garlic oil.

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