Using Roasted Garlic

Quite often I write about how to make those little extras like roasted garlic but then forget to write about how I use them when I do. The reason for this is I'm so used to using certain homemade foods as ingredients so they don't jog my mind to write about them. A few days ago it was a gorgeous spring day so we decided to grill a T-bone steaks on the outdoor grill. Our traditional steak dinner consists of the steak, baked potato, vegetable and side salad. I wanted something extra to spark up the meal without moving to far from the traditional. Roasted garlic was just what I was looking for!

Roasted Garlic Accents

Garlic can be roasted in the oven, on the grill or in the countertop roaster. It is very easy to make. Once roasted, I put the garlic into ice cube trays then freeze. I pop the frozen cubes (about 2 oz) into a zipper style freezer bag then keep in the freezer to be used as needed.

Roasted garlic is one of the first ingredients I turn to when I want to brighten up the flavour of a cream soup or chowder. It also adds depth and flavour to sauces. For this meal I stirred in about 1 tsp of roasted garlic into 4 ounces of sour cream for the potato topping then let the mixture sit for a half hour before using to let the flavours meld. The topping was wonderful! It will be one I modify slightly to make a vegetable dip then further modify for a creamy salad dressing. My husband was sautéeing an onion and mushroom mixture. He thought the roasted garlic would make a nice addition to the mixture so stirred in about a teaspoon of roasted garlic. That really brighted up one of our favourite vegetable mixtures. The roasted garlic was just the thing this meal needed!