Why This Recipe Works

We wanted to transform sharp, pungent raw garlic into balanced, sweet roasted garlic that was at once mellow and intense. We lopped off the top third of six heads of garlic to expose the flesh, drizzled them with olive oil, and sprinkled them with salt. We wrapped the heads tightly in a foil packet (to allow the heads to steam) and then roasted them at 400 degrees for an hour and a half, until the cloves were buttery soft and deep golden brown. Once the garlic was cool enough to handle, we easily squeezed the browned, nearly translucent paste out of the skins (squeezing from the root end up) and reserved it for use in anything from vinaigrettes to compound butters to garlic bread.

Before You Begin

Look for larger heads of garlic when shopping. Roasted garlic freezes beautifully (see “To Make Ahead”).

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Remove any loose outer papery skin from garlic heads by rubbing with your hands. Cut off and discard top one-third (pointed tip) of heads.

Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet. Place 24 by 12-inch sheet of aluminum foil on rack. Place garlic heads on foil, cut side up. Drizzle garlic with oil and sprinkle with salt. Pull sides of foil up around garlic while keeping garlic heads in single layer and crimp tightly to seal.

Transfer sheet to oven and roast until garlic is soft, about 1½ hours.

Remove sheet from oven and let garlic cool in foil on rack for 30 minutes. To use, squeeze head from root end to extrude garlic; discard skins.TO MAKE AHEAD: Place whole heads of roasted garlic in airtight container and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Let garlic come to room temperature before squeezing out of skins. To freeze, squeeze cloves from skins into airtight container; freeze for up to 1 month. A scant ¼ cup of defrosted garlic is equal to 1 head.