excuse the garlic breath...

Garlic.

It's at the base of so many recipes, and one thing I always make sure I have on hand.  Last year while covering a story for the paper I work for I got to meet some local garlic growers.  I had never really thought before about how many different types there are.  They talked about the distinct flavour differences between types and from which season they're grown as if they were fine wines to be savored.

Spring, it seems, is a great season for garlic.  Though if you ask me all seasons are great seasons for garlic.  I decided to try out a bulb of "elephant garlic" recently and was pleasantly surprised.  Though the cloves themselves were massive, they were very mellow.

I've become a big fan of roasting garlic over the last few months.  I always thought it was something that would be so time consuming, but it's really not.  If you have a clay garlic baker and didn't break yours like I did, by all means use that.  Otherwise you just preheat your oven to 375°F, spray a glass dish with a little olive oil, pop your whole bulb of garlic in the dish and drizzle a little olive oil on top of it.  When the oven's ready cook it for 45 minutes to an hour.

It's great to do this and then use the garlic in recipes like pesto, hummus, or well... anything.  It'll make the garlic flavour more subtle and a little sweet.