How to Roast Garlic

I have more zucchini than any reasonable person could eat. This is the annual summer problem — you plant generously in the spring optimism and then by July you're leaving bags on doorsteps anonymously. I've been giving bags to Ted Marchand over the fence, to the Hendersons down the road, to anyone who will take them. I made zucchini bread twice, froze four loaves. Grilled zucchini with olive oil and herbs every other night. Made zucchini soup, zucchini fritters, stuffed zucchini with rice and cheese.

Here is the thing about zucchini: it is not the most exciting vegetable in the garden. But it is honest and generous and entirely reliable, and there's something to be said for that. You can always count on the zucchini. Right now that feels like a quality worth appreciating.

The tomatoes are turning. I spotted the first flush of red on a Brandywine plant — a hint of color along one shoulder — and I have been monitoring it with an attention I cannot quite justify rationally but will not apologize for. There is a first tomato of every summer and it is always worth waiting for.

Teddy's cooking lesson this week was corn on the cob cooked multiple ways: boiled, grilled, roasted in the husk. He has a gas grill at their house and he was very enthusiastic about the grilling component. I told him that grilled corn with butter and good salt is one of the great simple pleasures of summer. He agreed without argument. Some things require no convincing.

Sarah says they're thinking about driving up in August, staying a week. I've been thinking about what to cook. That's how I know I'm excited.

With Sarah and the family coming up in August, I’ve been turning over the menu in my head — what to make, what to have ready, what will keep the kitchen from becoming a disaster zone while people are underfoot. Roasted garlic is one of those things I always want on the counter: it costs almost nothing to make, it improves virtually everything it touches, and it has that slow, generous quality I’ve been thinking about lately. Reliable, like the zucchini. Teddy’s corn lesson reminded me that the simplest preparations are often the ones worth teaching — and knowing how to roast garlic properly is exactly that kind of foundational thing.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 whole heads of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 400°F. Cut a small square of aluminum foil for each head of garlic.
Prepare the garlic. Slice about 1/4 inch off the top of each garlic head, exposing the tops of the individual cloves. You don’t need to peel anything — the papery skins stay on.
Season and wrap. Set each head cut-side up on its piece of foil. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over each, letting it soak down between the cloves. Season with salt and pepper and tuck in a thyme sprig if you like. Wrap the foil up loosely around each head, leaving a little room at the top.
Roast. Place the foil packets directly on the oven rack or on a small baking sheet. Roast for 40—45 minutes, until the cloves are deeply golden, very soft, and fragrant. You should be able to pierce them easily with a skewer or the tip of a knife.
Cool and squeeze. Let the garlic rest for 10 minutes before unwrapping — it will be hot. Once it’s cool enough to handle, squeeze the base of each head and the soft, caramelized cloves will slide right out. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Nutrition (per serving)

How to Roast Garlic — A Summer Side Worth Knowing Before the August Visit