Roasted garlic is essential – spread on a baguette, plentifully added to tomato sauces, in homemade salad dressing. Many people think that roasting garlic is complicated, or takes a lot of effort. Not so! It just takes a little bit of prep and some oven time. No matter how you roast your garlic (above is a neat little garlic roaster with a silicone top that my grandma gave me, below, I just wrapped the garlic in foil) you just need to keep a few things in mind:

1. the garlic needs to be coated with some olive oil. Don’t peel the head – just drizzle it on top!
2. the garlic needs to be covered, or it will dry out.

Some heads of garlic, a little olive oil, cover the heads, and throw them in a 400 degree oven until the heads are very soft – about 45 minutes. Then just separate the cloves and squeeze them gently. The roasted garlic will slide right out of the papery skin. A little advance planning and you never have to be without.