Gorgeous Roasted Garlic Recipe

We've just been on a day trip to a Garlic Farm. Wonderful! We came home with some gorgeous heads of garlic so I'm going to be making my favorite garlic recipes including this gorgeous roasted garlic. It's a recipe I make on holidays, it's become a traditional on Christmas day, or just as a treat. It fills the house with a gorgeous aroma. Mmm. 

Lots of people will be surprised to find that they like roasted garlic even though they find other forms of garlic overpowering. Once roasted, the garlic takes on a deep, mellow flavor. My kids love it. 

I started making baked or roasted garlic when I received a terracotta Garlic Roaster as a gift over 10 years ago. 

Although I'd often cooked with garlic in stirfries and lasagnes and made garlic bread, I hadn't thought of roasting it. This was a brilliant present! 

Roasted garlic is a wonderful accompaniment to a turkey dinner with all the trimmings at Thanksgiving, Christmas or a family get together. 

It also makes a brilliant appetiser or light meal served with crusty bread. 

This is how I make roasted garlic. Calling it a recipe might be going to far as it's so simple. But it works. 

Ingredients

Good quality ingredients do make a big difference. On this occassion I'm lucky enough to have garlic fresh from the garlic farm. But I've had good results with store bought garlic too. 

• One head of garlic per person
• Olive oil for drizzling

Instructions

Cut across each head of garlic so that you take the tip off each clove - this will allow oil and steam to get in during cooking. 

Arrange the heads inside the garlic roaster. (I guess you could use another container, but I've never tried since I have a garlic roaster.)

Drizzle olive oil generously over the garlic getting oil onto each clove. 

Put the lid on and bake for around 45 minutes in a hot oven. When cooked the garlic will be soft and squishy. 

There are lots of options for serving your roasted garlic. If you want to make it the center of attention then all you need is some crusty bread. 

This time we had ours with good quality sausages from our local butcher, roast potatoes and vegetables. And very nice it was too. 

If you really like roasted garlic, you can get a special purpose machine. Very cute! This would make a great talking point at parties and it frees up room in the oven.