Monday 27 October 2008

Roast Garlic and a Belated Anniversary

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I just realised that yesterday was A Pot of Tea and a Biscuit's first anniversary. I can't believe it (not that I missed it, because I'm quite good at missing things), but the fact that it has been a year since I wrote my first post. I don't think I thought back then that I'd really get into this whole blogging thing myself, and I certainly didn't think that there would be over 13,000 visits to my blog and nearly 60 people reading my ramblings in their Google Reader on a regular basis. So, thank you, each and everyone of you, whether you are just lurking or whether you leave comments, without all of you it'd only be half the fun!

Onto the food now though....

I love roasted garlic. It's great for using in all sorts of dishes. However, I like it best just as it is, squeezed straight onto some fresh crusty bread. Heavenly. Some of you might think that it must be awfully strong, but believe me when I say that roasting it makes it wonderfully mellow and brings out a lovely sweetness, just like slow cooking onions does.

Most recipes I know call for a huge amount of olive oil to roast the garlic in, which makes it somewhat 'unhealthy' (I know, I know, some olive oil in your diet is actually really good for you). So, this recipe replaces most of the oil with vegetable stock and in my opinion the garlic tastes just as great and it is the recipe I always use these days. You can roast as many bulbs as you like at once, the large elephant garlic bulbs work great, but standard bulbs work just as well.

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Roast Garlic

2-3 bulbs of garlic
vegetable stock
olive oil
6 sprigs of thyme

Cut the tops off the garlic bulbs, just enough that the tops of the individual cloves are taken off. (You can keep the cut-offs and use them minced in another dish.)

Place the bulbs in a small oven proof dish, top each one with a couple of sprigs of thyme and drizzle with a little olive oil.

Pour enough stock into the dish to come up to about 1/3 of the bulbs.

Cover with some tin foil and bake in a pre-heated oven at about 160C/325F/Gas 3, for about an hour.

29 comments:

Peter M said...

Sylvie, Happy Anniversary and all hail roasted garlic...I used some this past weekend.

Jules said...

Happy Blog Birthday!

Cottage Smallholder said...

Happy Blog Birthday and many happy returns of the day!

We love roasted garlic but once when I was ill and only Danny ate this treat he was banished to the spare room for a couple of days!

Lalycairn said...

Happy one year birthday!! :) (I love roasted garlic. Yummy, but stinky.)

Marie Rayner said...

Happy Anniversary Sylvie!!! I have enjoyed this past year right along with you. Always something delicious to slaver over and good reading too! Love roasted garlic myself. It has such a mellow and rich flavour. I am loving the look of that chocolate mud cake too!! Yummo!! Garlic and chocolate, a foodie's paradise, although not together!

Jan said...

Happy blog anniversary Sylvie! Keep up the good work - I certainly like to read all your yummy recipes!

Deborah said...

Happy blog anniversary! I love reading your blog!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

One year already ...happy anniversary. I love roasted garlic in my mashed potatoes or smeared on crostini...perfecto!!

Maria said...

Happy anniversary!! I love roasted garlic. It makes everything better!

Katerina said...

Congratulations on your anniversary!
I like your way of lightening up the recipe for roasted garlic. I never even thought of it as being heavy.

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Congratulations on your first year!

And my, ain't roasted garlic great?? I can eat any amount of it. And usually do.

Sam said...

Congrats on your anniversary!
Roasted garlic is great, I use it a lot.

Anonymous said...

Happy blogoversary! I didn't find you until quite a way into that year but I'm glad I did.

I'm really craving garlic now!

Anonymous said...

Happy anniversary, Sylvia! Ich freu mich, dass ich so ein bisschen an deinem Leben teilhaben kann...
;-)

Sylvie said...

Thanks for all the great comments, guys!

Anonymous said...

Happy anniversary! This is my first visit to your blog, and I am tickled to visit at such a special time.

Wonderful information and pictures. I look forward to exploring and visiting again.

Snooky doodle said...

hmm i love roasted garlic. and i used to hate it ha

Rosie said...

Happy Blog Birthday 'dear' Sylvie!!

Love roasted garlic :)

Rosie x

Anonymous said...

Happy Anniversary, Sylvie! The garlic sounds really good and the cake looks super yummy!

Nic said...

Happy blog birthday to your fabulous blog Sylvie - I have really enjoyed reading your entries!

Anonymous said...

Happy anniversary to you..........................
The garlic is a great idea. I'm sure the ramining stock would be good to. Have you tried it?
Rgds
Sam

Anonymous said...

a very happy birthday to your lovely blog! and many happy returns! :D

Abitofafoodie said...

Congratulations on reaching the one year mark.
I love your healthier version of roasted garlic - I just love it mashed up with potatoes.

Raquel said...

Happy blogoversary! I really enjoy your blog, Sylvie! That garlic looks scrumdelicious! Much love, Raquel XO

Cottage Smallholder said...

Hi Sylvie

Hello, I've given you the Kreativ Blogger award. Details on my blog.

Anonymous said...

Happy anniversary! What a great idea to replace the oil with stock, brilliant in fact!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Thank you so much Silvie! That was very kind of you :)

and.... the vegetables look delicious!

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

I'm sure I left a comment here yesterday. I love roasted garlic and the next time we have it I'll definitely try it with the stock.

Anne said...

Ooh yummy I love garlic and roasting with the stock sounds a great idea :)