Master Recipe for Roasted Garlic Puree
By America's Test KitchenPublished on August 22, 2007
Time
2 hours
Yield
Serves 16 (Makes 1 cup)
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Use this roasted garlic paste as you would use minced raw garlic -- in salad dressings, pasta sauces, and salsa. You can grill the garlic as well -- just cook the packets, covered, over a medium-hot fire about one hour, or two hours over slow coals.
Instructions
- Loosen papery outside skin by rolling each head of garlic back and forth across a cutting surface; rub away loose skin. Cut off about 1/2 inch from tip end of each garlic head with a sharp knife, so that most clove interiors are exposed and garlic heads sit straight (see illustration 1, below).
- Place garlic heads, cut side down, in a medium saucepan. Add milk and bring to simmer. Poach garlic over low heat, until softened slightly, about 10 minutes. Drain garlic (reserve milk if making Linguine with Garlic Cream Sauce, see related recipe) and rinse under cold running water to remove milk residue.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1 head of garlic in the center of an 8-inch square of aluminum foil. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon oil over the garlic. Gather the corners of the foil over garlic; twist to seal. Repeat with remaining heads of garlic and oil.
- Roast garlic packets in a small baking dish until garlic is very soft, about 1 hour. Let packets cool. Remove from foil. Squeeze out softened garlic by hand or with the flat edge of a chef’s knife, starting from the root end of the head and working down (see illustrations 2 and 3, below). Transfer garlic puree to a small bowl. Mash garlic with a fork or with the back of a wooden spoon to fully puree, if desired. Continue with one of the following recipes, or store puree in a small jar; top with olive oil. (The puree can be stored at room temperature for 1 week or refrigerated up to 1 month.)
Time
2 hoursYield
Serves 16 (Makes 1 cup)Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Many roasted garlic recipes recommend drizzling garlic with olive oil, wrapping it in aluminum foil, and tossing it in the oven but we found this method to be unreliable and it also sometimes gave the garlic a bitter taste. One reason garlic can be tricky to roast is that it is relatively dry. To add some moisture to the garlic in our roasted garlic recipe, we poached it in milk, producing a final product that was beautifully golden in color and perfectly tender.
Before You Begin
Use this roasted garlic paste as you would use minced raw garlic -- in salad dressings, pasta sauces, and salsa. You can grill the garlic as well -- just cook the packets, covered, over a medium-hot fire about one hour, or two hours over slow coals.
Instructions
- Loosen papery outside skin by rolling each head of garlic back and forth across a cutting surface; rub away loose skin. Cut off about 1/2 inch from tip end of each garlic head with a sharp knife, so that most clove interiors are exposed and garlic heads sit straight (see illustration 1, below).
- Place garlic heads, cut side down, in a medium saucepan. Add milk and bring to simmer. Poach garlic over low heat, until softened slightly, about 10 minutes. Drain garlic (reserve milk if making Linguine with Garlic Cream Sauce, see related recipe) and rinse under cold running water to remove milk residue.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1 head of garlic in the center of an 8-inch square of aluminum foil. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon oil over the garlic. Gather the corners of the foil over garlic; twist to seal. Repeat with remaining heads of garlic and oil.
- Roast garlic packets in a small baking dish until garlic is very soft, about 1 hour. Let packets cool. Remove from foil. Squeeze out softened garlic by hand or with the flat edge of a chef’s knife, starting from the root end of the head and working down (see illustrations 2 and 3, below). Transfer garlic puree to a small bowl. Mash garlic with a fork or with the back of a wooden spoon to fully puree, if desired. Continue with one of the following recipes, or store puree in a small jar; top with olive oil. (The puree can be stored at room temperature for 1 week or refrigerated up to 1 month.)
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