Lesson learned. Don’t blog for a few days and family members will phone to check up on you.
I’m fine. Really. I haven’t succumbed to swine flu, only the temptations of summer. Truth be told, I’ve been playing hooky with my barbecue — I mean grill.
Our house can’t take the heat of the oven once the warm weather hits, so we’re cooking everything we can outdoors. I needed some roasted garlic for a recipe I’m developing and couldn’t bear to crank up the stove for such a small item. So, since I was roasting some red peppers on the grill I cooked up the garlic, too.
Now, I’ll confess. I don’t actually like roasted garlic on its own. I know, it’s sweet and far milder than its uncooked counterpart. But there’s something pasty about the texture. But mash it into a dip in lieu of raw garlic? I’m there!
Since I wasn’t sure if garlic would roast well on a grill, I cooked only one bulb. And it worked like a charm. See? Soft but still perfectly whole.
To roast the garlic without burning, I put the peppers directly on the grill one side over a flame and the garlic on the upper rack on the other side with the heat turned off. While I only tested this technique on a single bulb of garlic, you can roast more, just wrap them individually.
I’ll get to the recipe in a minute, but I’m curious. Do you use roasted garlic? If so, how? If not, are you turned off by the texture like I am? Or is roasted garlic not on your radar?
Grill-Roasted Garlic
Printable Recipe
If you don’t have a gas grill, you can get the same results in a standard oven set to 350°F.
Ingredients
- Whole head of garlic
- Olive or canola oil
Instructions
- Preheat grill with one burner set to medium.
- Cut the top of the garlic off with a sharp knife.
- Place the garlic on a piece of aluminum foil large enough to envelope the whole bulb.
- Drizzle lightly with oil.
- Wrap the garlic tightly and place on the upper rack of your gas grill on the side WITHOUT the flame.
- Close the lid and let the garlic roast for 30 minutes or until the garlic is soft.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Roasted garlic? That stuff will kill ya…oh wait, that's just me.
Looks yummy, though.
This is one of boyfriends favorite things to do on the grill, then he eats it spread onto bread with some Camembert. The trick I find it to encourage his patience so it is actually fully roasted
I LOVE roasted garlic! hahaha I eat it on its own (oh, pasty, mushy goodness!) in fact, when I'm going to make roasted-garlic-something, I always roast and extra bulb to snack on!
I've never seen it ont he grill: great call!
I *love* roasted garlic!!! I like it spread on bread, in lieu of butter, and when used in this way as the base for some stellar goat cheese, it is magnificent! Basically, I'll eat it any way I can get it. Yum.
I discovered roasted garlic at a restaurant we ate at in Stratford – and loved it right away. I don't think it had to do with the martini I just finished either. I like it on its own or as the Diva on a Diet said, spread on bread is yummy!
Love, your now not worried sister.
Robin
Okay, that photo doesn't help the cause!
It takes soooo long to roast garlic. Unless I'm using charcoal, I always feel guilty heating up my propane grill to roast garlic.
I use my hubby's braising method – I like it a lot:
http://danamccauley.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/not-roasted-garlic/
DivaLisa — I keep forgetting about your garlic allergy. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't cook with garlic. Hope I never find out.
Katerina, Marta, Diva on a Diet and Robin, glad you like roasted garlic. I'm clearly going to have to mush it more. I like the Camembert idea, Katerina. No wonder your boyfriend's impatient.
Cherly A. Not all food is photogenic. My dying camera doesn't help
Dana, love your braising idea, especially in the winter when we close the grill. My garlic was done in half an hour, which doesn't seem long to me. While I wouldn't turn on the grill for a single head, I'll likely continue to roast it as a "double dip" when the Q is on.
Roasted garlic is so good!
I love roasting garlic, but agree it's a grill hog. I wonder if it would freeze well? I do this when I caramelize onions. I grill up a ton then freeze them.
Jill
Jill, I've never frozen roasted garlic, but it seems that you can do this quite easily. At least it works according to this link.
http://oldfashionedliving.com/garlic2.html
The author is brilliant and suggests roasting up garlic every time you cook something in the oven and then freezing the results. Very clever. I'll have to start doing that!
Thank you for posting this. It really made my mouth water just reading the description and now my stomach is growling.
I’ll really have to try this out!