Easy Roasted Garlic

Through the simple application of heat, raw garlic emerges soft and caramelized with a gentler flavor that borders on sweet. It’s truly like night and day.

Roasting garlic is easy and only requires a few minutes of hands-on time. The result is an incredible home cook’s tool for adding tons of flavor to literally anything, from soups to sauces. Each buttery-soft clove is perfect for spreading on a spare piece of sourdough bread or mashing into a salad dressing. As far as near-magical transformations go, roasted garlic should get a standing ovation.

Most of the work happens in the oven while you are sitting by casually reading a book or drinking a glass of wine. Here’s all you need to know.

• Prepare the garlic. Use your fingers to peel away all the loose, papery outer layers. Leave the head itself intact with all the cloves connected. Trim about 1/4 inch off the top of the head of garlic to expose the tops of the garlic cloves.
• Wrap in aluminum foil. Drizzle 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil over the exposed surface of the garlic, letting the oil sink down into the cloves, then wrap in foil.
• Roast the garlic. It takes about 40 minutes in the oven. The garlic is done when a center clove is completely soft when pierced with a paring knife. Even once soft, you can continue roasting until deeply golden for a more caramelized flavor — check the garlic every 10 minutes. Let cool slightly, then press on the bottom of a clove to push it out of its paper.

I’ve found that the exact cooking time and depth of color depend on several factors. Here are some pointers:

• Generally, heads of garlic will roast to softness in about 45 minutes.
• The size of the heads, the variety, and their age can affect the exact cooking time.
• Start checking them around 40 minutes and continue cooking as long as you like — it’s very hard to overcook garlic!

Roasted garlic can be refrigerated for up to two weekse or frozen for up to three months.

This is a particularly fine thing to do with older heads of garlic that have been languishing in the cupboard for a little too long, but you needn’t wait that long for your roasted garlic fix — fresh heads are just as tasty, if not more so!

I recommend throwing a head of garlic in the oven whenever you’re making a slow-cooked braise or casserole. The soft cloves make an excellent appetizer while you’re waiting for your meal to be ready.

• Spread on bread or crackers for a quick and easy appetizer.
• Mash into salad dressing.
• Mash into hummus, baba ganoush, or other spreads.
• Use in place of raw garlic in soups, casseroles, and sauces.