Ramblings of a Frantic Home Cook - Home cooking, Recipes, Healthy, Frugal

Is there anything more smooth, more suave or more sensual than roasted garlic paste? Well, maybe the word “paste” isn’t so sexy…it kinda reminds me of that glue you used to use in kindergarten that had that weird sticky brush in the lid? It tasted awful.  (Not that I was the weird kid who ate it.  Um…my friend told me.  Yeah, that’s it.) As I was saying, puree sounds so much more enticing. And everything this food stuff touches causes you to swoon. Since George has recently put out that restraining order, I’ll have to stop hanging outside his home and settle for something almost as delicious.

If you haven’t made this stuff before, you are missing out on one of the great culinary masterpieces. Best of all, it can be made ahead and stored in the fridge whenever you want to add a suave, delicious bite to anything. When you roast garlic, it becomes sweet, tasty, and succulent.

Here’s my simple recipe for the swoony stuff.

Roasted Garlic Paste

4 heads garlic
2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
Pinch kosher salt

Cut the top of the garlic heads off to expose the garlic cloves. Drizzle a little oil over (about 1 Tbsp.) and sprinkle with kosher salt. Wrap in foil and bake in the oven for about 50-60 minutes at 400º Farenheit until the garlic is soft and the tops are golden. Let it cool. Squish out the garlic into a bowl. Watch out for that papery peel slipping into the bowl. That garlic is so good, the peel just won’t give it up easily. Mix it up with a fork and add another tablespoon or so of olive oil to make a paste. Cover and store in fridge if not using right away.

So now that you have that golden goodness, what will you do with it? Ah, here is the sweet part. What CAN’T you do with it!? Here’s one of my favorites:

CREAMY ROASTED GARLIC HUMMUS

1 (19 ounce) can chickpeas
1/4 c. roasted garlic puree

1/4 c. Greek yogurt (low-fat regular yogurt can be used, it will just be thinner)
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1-2 tsp. olive oil
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper

Couple drops hot sauce

In food processor, combine drained chickpeas and garlic puree. Pulse to mix. Add yogurt (yeah, I know it’s not really traditional but it makes it creamier and hummus-ier.) Add the lemon juice and olive oil. Blend on high until smooth. Thin with a little warm water if needed. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce.

This recipe doesn’t use tahini (which I always confuse with it’s rhyme ‘wahine’ which is Hawaiian for woman so that doesn’t really work in the recipe.) Feel free to add Tahini if you want but it works fine without it.

This recipe goes great with the baked Pita chips which are also really good for you. In my next post, we’ll talk about how easy it is to make those bad boys.