Roasted Garlic Butter

 

I found a huge 1+ pound bag of garlic at Walmart at a very reasonable price.  I love roasted garlic and thought what a great opportunity to have this on hand through the holidays.  Here’s my roasted garlic and roasted garlic butter recipe.  This is totally yummy on toast points, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, and just about anything really.

 

 

Ingredients:

• Garlic – Several whole heads, I had a bag over 1 lb.
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt
• Pepper
• Stick Butter

 Cooking Utensils:

• Roasting Pan
• Fork
• Spatula
• Aluminum Foil
• Plastic Wrap

 Preparation: Tasks:

• Pre-heat oven to 275 to 300 degrees.  You know how your oven heats and we want this to roast slowly.
• Place the stick of butter on the counter to soften.

Directions:

 

Slice the tops off the garlic heads to expose all of the cloves inside. 

 

 

Save the garlic clove tips to be used in other recipies later.  Place the tips in a plastic bag and refrigerate.

 

 

Arrange the garlic on a roasting pan, tops up.

 

 

Drizzle liberally with Olive Oil and dust with salt and pepper. Cover with foil.

 

 

Roast garlic in the pre-heated oven for an hour. Test garlic with a fork to make sure the cloves are tender. If not, roast for another 30 minutes. Test with a fork again.

 

 

When garlic cloves are tender, remove the pan from the oven and cool to the touch.

 

 

Squeeze the garlic from the heads, with your hands, into a bowl. If you have some stubborn cloves that won’t mash out, pull, them out with the fork. Note: Some of the skins might fall into the bowl when squeezing the cloves. Just pull them out and discard as you are working.

 

 

Here's the pan of empty skins. 

 

 

This is the bowl of roasted cloves from the pan.  Yum.

 

 

 Using a fork, mash all the cloves until you have an even consistency. Cool completely.

 

 

Some of the cloves may be too dry or hard to mash. Remove these and discard because you will never get them integrated into your mashed garlic. When I was separating them they sounded like pebbles hitting the counter, they were that hard.  Here's a pic of my rejects...

 

 

Place the softened stick of butter in a bowl.

 

 

Add 2 heaping tablespoons of the roasted garlic paste to the butter.

 

 

Mix until evenly combined.

 

 

 

Spread the butter mixture on plastic wrap.

 

 

Roll the mixture into a log and even the distribution with your hand.

 

  

Twist the ends and place the roll into the refrigerator to chill.

 

 

 Unroll the chilled roll to slice.

 

 

To use the butter, unwrap and slice. 

 

The roll can be stored in the refrigerator for the freshness cycle printed on the butter.  It can also be frozen to store longer.  Enjoy.

Doors of Europe

I'll admit it, I love unique doors.  When in Europe recently, I found myself compelled to photograph some of these beautiful doors.  Most of the building facades were very nondescript and the residents found a way to make their homes stand out by using landscaping, beautiful transom windows, brass ornamentation and unique color. 

These photos were taken with my favorite camera, a Nikon D50.  Most of these photos were taken in the UK but some were from Scotland.

  

The door, above, stood out not because of the color but the compelling stone coloration against the white door frame with the transom window. 

  



The stonework and very ornate transom windows makes the doors, above, standout.

  

These last few doors all have such a beautiful color and mix of brass ornamentation. 

I hope you've enjoyed these.