One of the more popular appetizers at higher-end restaurants - or at least one of my favorites - is a bulb of roasted garlic with slices of toasted bread.  The sweetness of properly roasted garlic, spread almost like butter, atop the slight crunch and tender chewiness of lightly toasted mouth-watering sourdough... it's an excellent start to a meal. 

However, even among my foodie friends I don't see or hear of them roasting garlic at home all that often.  They love the flavor; they love the texture.  It's just not something they think about.  This is a shame, as it's one of the simplest things anyone could prepare. 

I love garlic and I enjoy roasting large quantities of it at a time.  Roasted garlic keeps well in the refrigerator and can add a more subtle garlic flavor to sauces, soups, bread, really anything where you want a hint of garlicky sweet with low heat.

I don't usually roast bulbs of garlic in the oven.  It is a chore getting out the cloves after cooking, and the small amount of leftover roasted garlic makes storing it seem like more of a chore and a space-waster.  It looks nice, yes, but I prefer getting large containers of peeled garlic cloves from retailers, like the three pounds of garlic at Costco.  It works very well for this.  All you need is a pan, a slotted spoon, maybe a funnel, an oven, garlic cloves, good oil and at most an hour of your time.  You don't even need to be near the stove for most of it.

I generally use a medium-sized oval shaped souffle dish, which will fit roughly half of the garlic from said three pound container.  If I'm roasting less I might use my medium oval souffle pan or a lasagna pan, but that's not the usual.

Here's my method:

Preheat the oven to about 350F degrees.  Put a large quantity of shelled garlic cloves into the souffle pan, generally until it's about half full.  Pour in oil - canola (rapeseed), grapeseed, or extra virgin olive oil all work well for this, but I suggest leaving the extra virgin for other work owing to the flavor.  I generally use canola.  Pour in enough to cover the garlic.  Some cloves will be breaking the surface of the oil a little bit.  That's OK.  Put the souffle pan in the oven for about 40 minutes, then come back and check the garlic.  If it has a good soft texture it's time to decant; otherwise, check it every 5-10 minutes until its ready.

When the garlic is ready you'll want to have two containers handy: one for the garlic and one for the oil.  Use a slotted spoon or a small mesh strainer on a handle to remove the garlic from the oil.  Pour the leftover oil into a suitable container or two and cover it quickly.

Voila!  Roasted garlic cloves and some bonus garlic oil!  Keep both of them in the fridge; the garlic oil will keep for a long time there, and the garlic will easily last for months.

 Unless, of course, you eat it all first.  mmmm.....