roast garlic purée

i've always loved eating whole cloves of roast garlic. so soft, sweet and nutty. but i've never had it as a purée. this was very simple but a little time consuming. you can roast whole bulbs by just chopping the tops off but i decided to separate the cloves as i didn't wan to cut into the garlic at all - but this was what took up more time.

i roasted the cloves (with skins still on) at 180°C for about 15 minutes - until tender and the tops were slightly caramelised. i then gently squeezed the cloves out of their skins, removed the brown root and mashed to a purée using a pestle and mortar. (you can use a food processor if you have a larger quantity).

we had it spread neat on toasted ciabatta and i also mixed some with cream cheese - both were lovely but i couldn't make my mind up which i preferred. at the last taste, neat, i think.

nigel slater says purée can be stored in an airtight jar in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil covering the surface and that this should last a week or two (i bet it would last longer). i've bought some more garlic so will make a pot and see...