Quick 'n' Easy Stove Top Roasted Garlic

When I was young the smell and taste of raw garlic would make me feel ill. If anything had a recognizable white chunk of garlic, I would segregate the offending piece along with some of the food around it. As I grew older, I was able to tolerate it, as long as they had been crushed into itsy bitsy bits and well mixed into the rest of the food, with other flavors totally overwhelming it.

And then one day, I discovered roasted garlic and my taste buds when haywire. There are a few instructables on roasting garlic already - the traditional way, using an oven, olive oil, and aluminum foil. This is a much simpler and quicker version of roasted garlic, and perfect for those who may not have an oven, or are short of time, or think that oven roasting garlic is a waste of time/electricity/gas if you're not baking anything else.

For this recipe, all you need is:

- a stove

- a pan with a lid - the smaller the pan, the quicker it will be. I'm using my little wok, but small frying pans are perfect too.

- and of course, garlic. Separate the cloves- but be sure to leave the skin on.

Heat your pan on full heat for about half a minute. Remember, the smaller the pan, the quicker this will be. Once it's hot enough, place the garlic in the pan, cover with a lid, and turn down the heat to low.

(to test if it's hot enough, just place your hand an inch or so OVER your pan for about a second- you should feel the heat rising. Remember to take your hand off once you've felt the heat!)

After a couple of minutes, stir the garlic around to get an even heat on the pieces. Do this every few minutes until you see the skin start to blacken. Keep the pan covered when you're not stirring. You may also give the pan a shake instead. The entire cooking time is less than ten minutes, depending on the size of your pan and the amount of garlic you are roasting.

Once all sides of the garlic cloves have darkened, turn off the heat, and let it the pan sit aside for a couple of minutes to cool down enough to handle, or longer if you've got something more urgent to do.

The cloves will peel off easily, and the garlic inside should be soft and mushy. If you want the garlic firmer, just let it sit for a few minutes longer.

The roasted garlic has a nutty taste and is perfect for salads, soups, pizzas, crackers and anything else you can think of.

Try it out and enjoy!