Garlic Butter Deliciousness!

I was searching for a recipe on TasteSpotting recently. I wanted something that was healthy and would allow me to use up a few of the assorted odds and ends left in my vegetable crisper. When I came across a recipe for Garlic Butter with Broccoli, I couldn't help but veer a bit from my healthy path. But it was a healthy indulgence (I used a quarter of the amount of butter the original recipe called for) and paired the dish with a few other healthy elements.

The process is painfully simple. Just chop two heads of garlic in half, spread a little olive oil, salt, and pepper over the fresh cut, then bundle the heads up with aluminum foil and pop them in the oven. Squeeze the garlic out of its casing once roasted and mix with some room temperature butter. How delicious? More than I could believe.

As soon as I had my butter together, but before I got to cooking the broccoli, I dipped a small spear in the butter and could not believe how wonderful it tasted. My taste buds were absolutely delighted. The garlic flavor was super-concentrated but cut through with the sweet and fatty butter. A bit of salt and pepper further brought out the wonderful garlic flavor. This garlic butter really doesn't necessarily have to be served as a sauce for a cooked vegetable side dish, it could be a dip for baguette or fresh vegetables all on it's own.

Here's the recipe, with my adaptations. I downsized the butter to up the relative garlic-content and, though I did serve it on broccoli, it was also used to further flavor sweet potato rounds and venison loin before dinner was over. Enjoy!

Garlic Butter

adapted from The Tastespotting Blog's Garlic Butter with Broccoli

Ingredients

• 2 heads of garlic
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Slice each head of garlic in half through the middle of the body.

3. Douse the open garlic with olive oil, one Tbsp per head, and season with salt and pepper.

4. Reassemble the tops and bottoms of each head and cover with aluminum foil to help heads retain their original shape.

5. Place foil packages in the oven on a baking sheet. Roast for about 35 minutes until garlic is golden brown and garlic is super-soft.

6. Pop cloves (sans papery casing) into a bowl. Add room temperature butter, and salt and pepper.

7. Using a fork, mix together the ingredients. Be sure to mash the garlic and fully incorporate all ingredients.

I quickened the process by melting the butter in the microwave... I went
a little too far though, so hopefully you're butter-garlic mixture will be
a bit more solid than this!

8. Use atop any vegetable, meat, cracker, or bread. Enjoy!