Roasting garlic gives any recipe a special kind of wonderful. Mashed potatoes become richer. Sauces elevate to superb status. And soups turn into masterpieces.

A clove a day…

Garlic is one of those ingredients that should always be in your kitchen. Besides a flavor addition that makes many dishes pop, garlic has multiple health benefits. Among all its positive effects on our health, garlic has the ability to control blood colesterol and pressure. It has also been proven to have antioxidant properties and has been known to have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.

Plus, it is a delicious source of vitamins and minerals. Garlic is known to contain, among others, Vitamin B6, Manganese, Vitamin C and Calcium.

So, you see, get roasting! It’s good for you!

How to roast ‘em…

There are many ways to roast garlic, in the oven or on the stovetop. This method I am showcasing here is a cool way to do it. The cloves get a chance to absorb the flavors you want and they come out whole out of their skin.

Choose healthy bulbs. Look for the whiter, plumper cloves. Avoid the ones that look wrinkled or seem to have a dark hew showing through the skins.

Step one: Preheat your oven to 190 C / 375 C. Separate the cloves leaving the skins intact. You need your garlic to roast snuggly inside its skin to seal in the moisture. With a paring knife cut a slit along the round side of each clove.

Step two: Place the prepared cloves on a square of parchment paper. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle salt, pepper and any dry herbs you want. Which herbs you use depends on what you will want to use the cloves once they are roasted. Choose any herb, like rosemary, thyme, parsley, mint, chili flakes, oregano. For lamb I would recommend rosemary and mint. If you’re thinking pizza sauce, oregano and parsley are my favorite. Chicken? Well, we all know chicken goes with everything!

Step three: Cover the seasoned cloves with a second square of parchment paper. Make a loose pouch, sealing the edges by rolling and folding the two pieces of paper together. Leave a good dome over the cloves to let steam inside do its magic. Place the pouch on a baking tray and set it on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 30 minutes for small cloves, and 40 minutes if you are lucky to have found big cloves.

Step four: Remove the tray from the oven and let the pouch sit untouched for 10 minutes.

Now open that pouch and squeeze each gorgeous golden clove out of the skin. You can serve them atop a salad, mash them up for sauces or mashes, or mix them with butter to create the most wonderful roasted garlic butter.

Save these roasted garlic cloves for later. Store them in a glass jar, fill with with olive to cover the cloves. Place the jar in the refrigerator and use them within a month. Also — BONUS! — you now have roasted garlic infused olive oil! How cool is that?

Try this method out and let me know what herbs you used and what you added your roasted garlic to!