Roasted Garlic, a.k.a. 'Birth Control'

Here's just a quick 'how-to' on how to roast your own garlic. If you like garlic, you'll love roasted garlic.

And if you love garlic, you'll be over the moon for the roasted variety.

I was going to go the traditional route of cutting my head of garlic in half, drizzling oil over the halves, putting back together, wrapping in aluminum foil, and roasting in the oven. However, when I tried to cut the head in half, it just started falling apart and the garlic peel started crumbling all helter skelter, and I realized my plan just wouldn't do. So, instead I got experimental and simply took the peels off of all the cloves and put them in a little baking dish, and drizzled them with a little olive oil and salt, like this:

Then I wrapped the baking dish in foil and put it in the oven, at 375 degrees, until the cloves were golden and sort of translucent looking, about 30 minutes, looking like this:

See those browned areas? As in the case of meat and onions and vegetables and all things roasted or sauteed, those are delicious.

There's something you should know about roasting garlic, though. The smell of garlic will permeate your kitchen. It will permeate your house. Your pores, your sinuses, your tear ducts. It's a bit overwhelming, even for a garlic lover like me.

Next, put the cloves in your mini food processor (a regular size food processor would be way to big unless you're making a mega batch of roasted garlic cloves) and puree until smooth, or mash up the little guys with a fork, ending with a scrumptious little dollop of roasted garlic, looking something like this:

Mmmm... That's good stuff. If you've never done so before, take a little bite of it. It won't hurt you one bit. I think it's always good to taste things if you can so you know what they taste like in their original state, before you add them to other foods.

I'm about as garlicked up as I can be right now, after absorbing it through my pores while it was roasting and then eating it in roasted squash bisque. It's good husband repellent.