Recipe - Roasted Garlic

Roasted Garlic:

Just toss all the garlic cloves, peel and all into a small oven proof saucier with salt, pepper, 2 bay leaves, and 2-3 thyme springs. Put in enough olive oil to cover everything. Put into a 325 degree oven for 35 minutes. Let cool. Separate cloves from oil - save oil in a glass jar. Smash the garlic and save that in another jar.

 Awhile ago I mentioned in my Instagram stories that Phil wrecked my garlic.

Phil, my lovely, rambunctious Labrador decided that his favorite spot to lay in the garden was right on top of my German Red Garlic. He handily destroyed it in under 2 days rolling and sunbathing. DOGS. I pulled what I could to cook with it immediately and then I left what was there to maybe give it time to mature. German Red Garlic is delicious. When it has time to mature, the cloves are large and easy to peel - and the garlic taste is fabulous. I always add 3-5 cloves of garlic into whatever I cook (because anything less is... not garlic. LOL).

First you have to pull the garlic and peel it. Because it had already fallen over from the dog, the bulbs were easy to pull from the ground and I left them outside in the sun for a good 3 days. I wanted the first few layers of the peel to dry to make it easier to work with. All the discards will go back into my compost pile.

I used a Le Creuset saucier. Separate and smash the cloves from the bulbs, don't worry about the paper peel - just toss all the cloves into the pot. Cover with a hefty layer of olive oil until everything is covered. Add salt, pepper, 2 bay leaves, and a couple sprigs of thyme. Put into a 325 degree oven for 35 - 40 minutes. Your house should smell amazing.

It's still bubbling here when I took it out of the oven. Wait for the pot to cool. You wil have to handle each clove with your hands, so give it a good amount of time to cool.

Then, I used a strainer to separate the majority of the infused garlic oil into a separate jar.

The garlic is soft enough that if you prefer, you can just smash it with a spatula. 

I will cook with the infused garlic oil, make salad dressings with it, drizzle over salmon or chicken or beef or vegetables. The infused oil is DELICIOUS, it ups your cooking to the next level. With the roasted garlic, I will add it to anything that I normally make with regular garlic - this just adds a different and more delicious flavor. I especially like to make soups and stews with it, I feel like it adds depth and a better garlic flavor.

Enjoy!