If you’ve never tasted roasted garlic, you’ll be amazed about how buttery and mild it is–nothing like raw, or even sautéed garlic. If you get rained out, don’t worry–just pop the packet in a 350 – 400 degree oven (whatever temperature you’re using for the rest of your meal). The recommended accompaniment, Grilled Bread, can be made in the broiler. Alternately, mix leftover garlic with cream cheese or goat cheese and spread on toasted bread. Run under the broiler until lightly browned. Refrigerate for up to a week, and use to season soups, sauces, or dips.

for each serving:

1 large, firm head of garlic
3 to 4 small new potatoes, washed and dried
1 spring of fresh rosemary
olive oil
coarse Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Cut the top third off of each head of garlic with a serrated knife.

Spread out a large sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil. If you don’t have heavy-duty foil, use double sheets of regular foil.

Pile up the potatoes, garlic heads, and rosemary. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with Kosher salt and coarse-ground black pepper.

Gather the ends of the foil and fold them over. Roll up the ends and crimp to seal the foil package up. Pierce a few times with a fork to allow steam to escape.

Toss the packet on the back of the grill while you’re prepping and cooking the rest of the food. This dish needs at least 40 minutes to cook (will vary with heat), but will do well on the grill for a very long time. Just don’t keep it in the middle of the fire. If you’re serving with Grilled Bread, keep the packet on the grill until your bread is done.

Open packet carefully to avoid steam burns.

Serve potatoes and garlic as a side dish or appetizer, along with crostinis or Grilled Bread. If you like, drizzle the potatoes with a bit more olive oil.

To eat garlic, squeeze the entire head. Use some muscle to squeeze every bit of extra garlic out of all the heads when you clear away the plates. The roasted garlic cloves will slide or ooze out on the bread.

Then you can spread it like butter. Yum!