I really enjoy the breadth of subject manner, and extensive amount of articles on food coming out of the Miami Herald. This short article provides an interesting, yet smart way of roasting peeled garlic. All too often, I see roasted peeled garlic done in restaurants that comes out burnt, or at the minimum a little crunchy and crisper than when done with the whole bulb. I've not tried this technique yet, but I think the controlled temperature, and cover keeping the moisture in will make all the differerence.
That said, I don't think it compares with roasting garlic in the bulb. For those not familiar with that that technique, at least the way I've always done it, is to use a sharp knife, or serated knife, to cut the top of the bulb. Reserving the top. The cutting of the top is to make removal of the roasted garlic easier. I rest the top back onto the bulb while cooking. I then drizzle with olive oil (you can also almost poach the garlic in olive oil, straining and reserving the oil to use in other preparations), kosher salt, and a little cracked pepper. I then like a light splash of balsamic vinegar. It tends to help bring out some sweetness of the garlic. I like to do this in either an oven proof dish that has a tight fitting lid, or cover the dish with foil. If you are only roasting a couple of small bulbs, then you could simply use a sheet of foil, place the garlic in the center, and then wrap the edges up together and bake like that.
I'd bake the garlic around 375º, for fort-five minutes to an hour. Check the garlic, it should be soft when a paring knife is inserted into a bulb. The garlic takes on a golden brown color around this point as well.
Once the garlic is roasted and soft, remove from the oven and let cool. With the top already cut off, you can simply squeeze the whole bulb, and the roasted cloves should simply squeeze out of the top. You may need to squeeze a few cloves by themselves to get all the garlic out.
(Note, you may want to wear some latex gloves, as the oily bulbs can be a little messy, and the garlic smell can really get into your hands. If you don't mind the smell (I don't) then just have a old kitchen towel handy to wipe off the oil.)
Once you have your garlic, the uses are infinite. Mixed with a few herbs, like oregano or basil with any left over olive oil from the roasting process, it makes a great spread on crostini. It can be added to cream cheese or goat cheese for a spread. The Herald article has a link for garlic sauce for chicken. I once made a roast garlic broth for a tofu dish I did at a restaurant I was chef at (very simple vegetable broth and roast garlic cloves in a blender, then warmed, seasoned with salt and pepper).
Kept refrigerated, the garlic could be kept 10-12 days safely. If kept packed in extra olive oil in the fridge, I think it would easily last several more weeks.