Ordinally, garlic has a sharp, pungent flavor. But when it's slowly roasted in the oven, it takes on a mellow, creamy flavor. In this recipe, we've taken a staple of campfire cooking, roasted potatoes, and adapted them for the home oven. To add incredible flavor, we rubbed a paste made from roasted garlic cloves on slices of potato, reassembled them into whole-potato shapes, wrapped them tightly in a covering of aluminum foil and baked them in the oven. As the roasted garlic caramelizes during cooking, it creates a delicious golden crust on the slices of the potatoes. Serve these baked potatoes as a side dish, with a chicken or beef dish as the main course.
RECIPE
Baked Potatoes with Roasted Garlic RecipeMakes 4 Servings
Ingredients:
- 2 heads garlic
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 4 large Idaho baking potatoes
- Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 bunch fresh thyme
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Wrap the garlic heads in a package of aluminum foil. Place the foil wrapped package on a baking sheet and roast until the garlic turns golden brown and the heads just become soft, about 1 hour. Remove the roasted garlic from the oven. Let stand until cool enough to handle. Slice off the tip of each head of garlic, just enough to expose the garlic cloves. Press out the garlic from the heads, using the tip of a knife. Discard the garlic skin; transfer the cloves to a small mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil to the garlic cloves and mix to form a paste with the mixture. Season to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees F. Slice each potato crosswise into one-inch-thick pieces. With a spoon, spread a generous amount of the garlic paste on each slice of potato. Reassemble the potato, pressing so that the potatoes pieces stick together. Set the reassembled potato on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Wrap the potato tightly in the aluminum foil. Repeat the process with the remaining potatoes and olive oil. Bake the potatoes in a large roasting pan or on a baking sheet until they are soft and have a caramelized roasted-garlic crust on the bottom of the potatoes, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Place the potatoes crust-side up on a layer of fresh thyme and serve warm.
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