Roasted garlic

My husband has been on a roasted garlic kick lately, which smells heavenly when baking. Few foods metamorphose as dramatically or alluringly as garlic when it is roasted, and the best part is the simplicity of it all.

Preheat the oven to 400°f (200°c). Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head. Sprinkle with sea salt, fresh ground pepper and a few spring of rosemary or thyme. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

Allow the garlic to cool to touch. Use a small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins. Spread over warm French bread, or mix with Parmesan and pasta.

Look at GourmetSleuth.com for more information on garlic, including: varieties, nutrition information, growing garlic and a delicious recipe for baked garlic with Roquefort and rosemary