Roasted garlic is one of the most delicious flavors ever. Ever! It doesn’t at all resemble the strong, pungent taste of raw or even sautéed garlic. It’s smooth and creamy and utterly delectable. It’s so good, you could eat the roasted cloves whole and alone, if you wanted to. But I usually use them in pasta dishes, or as a pizza topping.

It takes a bit of time to roast garlic, but the prep time is fairly minimal. The oven does the rest. Give it a try. Follow these step-by-step instructions, and in 40-45 minutes, you’ll have an entire head of melty, delicious roasted garlic to use however you want.

                                                                            

Ingredients:

1 head garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper
a couple tablespoons water

Guidelines:

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Step 2: Remove the outer paper layer of the garlic head, without peeling off the protective covering over the individual cloves.

Step 3: Place the head of garlic in a small dish (I like to use a ramekin).

Step 4: Drizzle the garlic with a bit of olive oil (about a tsp.) and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Step 5: Place a couple of tablespoons of water in the bottom of the dish.

Step 6: Cover tightly with foil.

Step 7: Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a fork inserted into a clove slides easily in.

Step 8: Let cool for 5-10 minutes, or until you can easily handle the cloves.

Step 9: Tear the garlic into individual cloves, and squeeze the cloves out of their protective coverings.

Step 10: Enjoy!

I love the flavor of sundried tomatoes. They’re slightly sweet with a bit of tang, and they add a lot of character to regular old marinara sauce. This recipe is super simple. Seriously. At its core, it only contains five ingredients. You can always add to the core recipe, and I usually do, but it’s delicious without any extras as well. Use this sauce over any pasta dish–spaghetti and meatballs, veggie lasagna, sweet sausage and mushroom penne, anything! I usually add some form of garlic to the sauce. I prefer whole roasted garlic cloves, but in a pinch, garlic powder will do. For those who don’t care for garlic, simply leave it out. If eggplant will be used in the pasta dish, I like to add some fresh thyme or rosemary. Marjoram is a great herb in tomato based sauces, as well. Use your imagination and add to it the flavors you like!

Core Ingredients:

1 28oz. can of whole plum tomatoes (I buy them from Trader Joes)
1 package of sundried tomatoes
1 tbsp. dried basil
several tablespoons of olive oil
black pepper

Optional Ingredients:
whole roasted garlic cloves or garlic powder, fresh thyme, rosemary, marjoram

Guidelines:

In a blender, combine the whole plum tomatoes, ¾ package of sundried tomatoes, dried basil, and the olive oil. Blend until mostly smooth, but not entirely.

Place the contents of the blender in a pot along with the remainder of the sundried tomatoes (chop if they are whole) and the black pepper. Heat over medium-low heat and keep warm until the pasta dish is ready.

Food to Live By, the Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook by Myra Goodman, is one of my favorite resources. I cook out of it often, and several of my favorite recipes can be found between its covers. The Homemade Chai, for example, as well as the California Salad, are just two of the recipes I love.

So, I bet you’re interested in getting a FREE copy of Food to Live By, and here’s how you can do just that. Earthbound Farm just launched a series of videos on its website. In the videos, you can watch Myra Goodman demonstrate how to make Lemon Vinaigrette, Maple Almond Granola, and even a version of that California Salad I was telling you about. Go check out the videos (there’s four shorts in all, and all can be found by clicking here ), then come back here and comment on this post. That’s all there is to it. A random number generator will determine the winner, and the winner will receive Earthbound Farm coupons and a copy of Food to Live By. Get your comment in before November 20th! The winner will be announced at the end of the comments thread on Friday, November 21st.