Roasted Garlic Paste

Use as a spread. Use to add rich flavor to soups, vegetable dips, or basted on meats.

1 pound whole garlic heads
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Peel the outermost layers of skin off the heads of garlic. Cut off the top 1/3 of the heads to open the cloves. Put the heads, cut sides up, in a small baking dish and pour the olive oil over them. Season with salt and pepper. Cover tightly, place in the oven, and roast until about 3/4 cooked, about 45 minutes. Uncover and return to the oven until the cloves begin to pop out of their skins and brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

When garlic is cool enough to handle easily, squeeze the roasted garlic into a small bowl. Press against the skins very well to get out all the sweet roasted garlic you can. Add the oil from the baking dish and mix well until a paste forms. Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week. Yield: about 1 cup.

Source: Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello. Episode: Skewer This
From: FoodNetwork.com