Roasted Garlic

There used to be a restaurant called Red Rock Canyon by our old house that had the best carrots and roasted garlic smashed red-skin potatoes. I could always take or leave carrots until I had them there; I think the carrots were only fed butter growing up. One time Tony said he wanted to try making the potatoes at home. I bought a clay garlic roaster at Marshall’s; they’re easy to find in home stores or online.

The roaster came with directions to soak the lid in water ten minutes before you put it over the whole head of garlic. You remove some of the garlic’s paper, cut the tips off the top, and cut the bottom flat if it’s not already. You drizzle over some oil, sea salt, and oregano, then put it in a cold oven. It needs to heat up with the oven so it doesn’t break, just like when clay pot cooking. It takes about 45 minutes to roast and then the cloves are easy to remove; you can squeeze them out. You can also find directions online to roast garlic wrapped in foil.

The natural chemical that makes garlic smell, diallyl trisulfide, was shown to help release protective compounds to the heart after heart attack, during cardiac surgery, or as a treatment for heart failure.^[1] It’s naturally a blood thinner so people taking blood thinners need to take it easy. Garlic has been used since ancient Egypt as both a medicine and for cooking. Many population studies and clinical trials have shown it decreases tumor sizes and the risk of different kind of cancers such as stomach, colon, esophagus, pancreas, and breast.^[2] While a recommended amount is still under investigation, the World Health Organization recommends one clove per day. It’s best to get its benefits directly from your food. Once you roast garlic, the smell and potency of the flavor are greatly diminished, so you can spread it on bread and use it in dips besides adding it to foods. Today I put them in mashed potatoes and served them with leftover stew.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes
1 head roasted garlic cloves
2 pounds red potatoes (4-6 regular potatoes)
1/4 C broth, or water left from boiling
1/4 C cream cheese (cream and chives are optional)
2 T chopped chives
Roast garlic according to instructions with garlic roaster. About half way through garlic roasting, put cut potatoes (skin on) in large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes.

When garlic is cool enough to handle, remove cloves from skins. Drain the potatoes when done; put in a large bowl. Add garlic, broth, and cream cheese if you want; mash together. Stir in chives if you have some.