Easy Roasted Garlic Recipe

How many recipes start off with cooking garlic? How many sauces that simmer away require generous amounts of the pungent allium? As it turns out, a vast number of them do! If transforming garlic into sweet caramelly bliss is a game changer for so many dishes, chef and recipe developer Catherine Brookes of Blue Sky Eating has us covered, ensuring we always have pre-roasted garlic at the ready to use in all sorts of recipes.

Once you have prepared a few servings of this stuff, you'll be off to the proverbial races. "There are so many uses," Brookes says. "You can spread it straight onto toast, use it to make garlic butter, [put it in] pasta sauces, or add it to sheet pan meals." Better yet, this magnificent flavor enhancer only requires three ingredients — maybe a few more if you want to get fancy. But even the most basic version is absurdly delicious.

As noted, it takes but three ingredients to make great roasted garlic. First, of course, you'll need a few bulbs of fresh garlic. Other than that, you'll also need some olive oil and salt. And that's it. But if you want to branch out, Brookes has some ideas: "Paprika sounds great, or maybe chile powder."

To start things off, preheat the oven to 400 F. Meanwhile, peel away the outermost papery layer from the garlic bulbs, and then carefully slice off the top of each garlic bulb, removing just enough of it to expose all of the cloves within.

Rub the top of each garlic bulb with a little olive oil and then sprinkle on the salt (and any other seasonings you want to use). Next, wrap the garlic bulbs in foil and place them on a baking sheet. Bake the wrapped and seasoned garlic for 40 minutes, or until the cloves are golden brown and fragrant.

That's it! You're done. You can squeeze the pulpy roasted garlic out of its paper shell now, or do it as you use the cloves. The cloves will keep for a few days if kept in the fridge, but Brookes has another storage method: "I actually like to freeze the roasted cloves, then take out a few at a time to cook with." So make a big batch now and enjoy your handiwork for months to come.