Elephant Toes – Baked Elephant Garlic

I love elephant garlic. It’s flavor is mild, but rich and it goes great in just about any savory dish. But elephant garlic isn’t really garlic at all. Elephant garlic is part of the wild leek family.

Although not an allium (onions, garlic), it has the same flavor compounds, just not as much. Sliced raw, it adds a delicious flavor profile to a salad. Cooked it imparts a very mild oniony garlic flavor.

This recipe uses those wonderful flavors and uses them as a spread for appetizers or sandwiches. Interest? Read on!

Here’s How to Do it:

Preheat the oven to 350° –

The smaller head in front of the elephant garlic cloves is a large head of regular garlic – just to give perspective.

Elephant garlic has much larger cloves than regular. Separate those cloves and lay them, unpeeled, in a small baking dish.

Drizzle with olive oil and bake until the cloves are fork tender. Remember the small ones will get done first, so watch them and remove them when they are done.

Once they are soft, remove them from the oven and add some salt to the top. The skins will have cracked and there will be puddles of baked liquid. It’s the stuff that looks like baked cheese.

Let them cool before you try to handle them. Carefully remove the skins and cut the hard ends off.

Slice or mash the cloves and serve with crackers. Be sure to scrape off the baked on goodness from the bottom of the pan and crumble it over the top of the cloves.

Or store in the refrigerator to use in potatoes, on meats, with vegetables or as a sandwich spread.

And that’s it!! The hardest part of this recipe is finding the elephant garlic!

© Copyright 2021 The Lazy Gastronome

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Elephant Toes - Baked Elephant Garlic

Baked cloves of the giant elephant garlic, lightly salted and spread on sandwiches or crackers. Also great in vegetables, potatoes or pasta and on meats.

Course: Appetizer, appetizers, condiment, sandwich, spread, spreads

Cuisine: American

Keyword: appetizer, baked, cured meat, garlic, pasta, potatoes, sandwich, vegetables

Author: HelenFern

Ingredients

• 1 full head elephant garlic
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• salt to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° -

2. Elephant garlic has much larger cloves than regular. Separate those cloves and lay them, unpeeled, in a small baking dish.

3. Drizzle with olive oil and bake until the cloves are fork tender. Remember the small ones will get done first, so watch them and remove them when they are done.

4. Once they are soft, remove them from the oven and add some salt to the top. Let them cool before you try to handle them. Carefully remove the skins and the hard ends.

5. Slice or mash the cloves and serve with crackers. Or store in the refrigerator to use in potatoes, on meats, with vegetables or as a sandwich spread. 

6. And that's it!! The hardest part of this recipe is finding the elephant garlic! 

Recipe Notes

 

© Copyright 2021 The Lazy Gastronome

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