Roasted garlic, where have you been all my life?

I've read countless cooking blogs and foodie websites that talk about how easy it is to make roasted garlic, and how tasty it is, but I thought those people were crazy spending all that time roasting full pans of garlic and wasting all that olive oil. Until this weekend...

Tiny garlic bulb in a tiny LeCreuset

To make roasted garlic, you basically just douse a head of garlic in olive oil after chopping off the top bits of the bulbs so the oil can get ALL up in there. I did this kind of on a whim and just used what I had at home, and I didn't want to pour my entire bottle of olive oil in the pan just for one head of garlic. In a flash of inspiration, I grabbed a silicone muffin cup to keep everything compact. I covered the whole thing in foil after the pic, put it in the oven while I was roasting some butternut squash, and then I got...

nutty, fragrant, roasted garlic! When I took it out, I could still see bubbles coming up from the bottom of the muffin cup. The little bulbs are pretty easy to get out, especially if you don't mind getting your fingers and/or chopsticks a little oily. I used some while broiling salmon by cutting deep scores in the salmon and sticking some garlic in the cuts before sprinkling salt, pepper and panko flakes on top. Mmmmmm....

I can't wait to try this crushed up on some bread!