I traditionally have made garlic salad dressing for Caesar Salads. As much as I enjoy making Caesar Salad Dressing from scratch, I wanted a develop a versatile and easy-to-make dressing that could be used as a dressing, or a dip, or a spread or an aioli. This Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing is made with mayonnaise as the base ingredient and with the addition of a few ingredients, you can create a flavourful and versatile dressing. It is convenient to have on hand in the refrigerator for a multitude of purposes, which are outlined below under the “What Else Can I Do With This Recipe?” section of this post.

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The first essential step in making this dressing is roasting the garlic. I will share with you how to pan roast garlic cloves to make your own roasted garlic puree. This process is much simpler, less messy and yields far more roasted garlic puree than oven roasting whole heads of garlic. CHEF TIP: The garlic oil that remains from pan roasting garlic cloves is a very useful bonus item.

How to Make Pan Roasted Garlic Puree

CHEF TALK: Since I use roasted garlic puree for a number of different purposes, I pan roast at least 1 pound (454 g) of garlic cloves at a time. For this Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing, you will use 1 Tablespoon of roasted garlic puree. Freeze the remainder of the garlic puree in ice cube trays for use in pan sauces, stews or dressings.

Yield: 1 lb. roasted garlic puree + bonus ¼ cup garlic oil

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb. (454 g) garlic cloves, peeled
• ¼ cup olive oil or avocado oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground pepper

METHOD:

1. Preheat a large frying pan. Pour in the olive oil. Add the garlic cloves, and simmer over low to medium heat, until the garlic caramelizes. Stir often. CHEF TIP: Just like caramelizing onions this is a gradual process that will take approximately 30 to 40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir through.
2. In a small sieve over a measuring cup, drain the garlic cloves, reserving the garlic oil.
3. Puree the garlic cloves in a food processor (or mash finely with a fork). Thin out, if desired with reserved garlic oil.
4. Store the roasted garlic puree in the fridge for up to one week in a sealed container, or for longer storage, freeze 1 Tablespoon portions on a parchment-lined baking sheet or silicone trays. Once the portions are frozen, place them in a labelled sealed container.
   

   Roasted Garlic Puree is portioned and frozen in cubes for other dishes

NOTE: Fresh, peeled Garlic Cloves can be purchased in bulk at your grocery store. CHEF TIP: When fresh local garlic is available, I buy in bulk and peel it with this shake-it trick: I place the whole head of unpeeled garlic or separated cloves in a quart container with a lid and shake it vigorously. The thin garlic skin will fall away and then you just remove the peeled cloves. Repeat if necessary until all of the skin has fallen away from the cloves.

How To Make Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing

Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing

Yield: 1 ¼ cups of dressing

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup mayonnaise (250 ml), homemade or store-bought
• 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) roasted garlic puree, or to taste (from above recipe)
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) grainy mustard
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) Worcestershire Sauce
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
• Garlic oil, as required (from above recipe)

Note: Feel free to add as much roasted garlic puree as you want. The mellow flavours will develop further over time.  Roasted garlic has a much more subtle flavour than raw garlic.  I usually make this dressing the day before I need it to allow the flavours to develop.

METHOD:

1. In a small bowl combine the above ingredients and mix well.
2. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator. 

What Else Can I Do With This Recipe?

Here are just a few ways to use this Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing:

• As an ideal Caesar Salad Dressing
  

  Multi-use for Roasted Garlic Dressing: Caesar Salad and Parmesan Chicken Breasts

• Parmesan Chicken Breasts: spread boneless chicken breasts with a small amount of roasted garlic dressing and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Bake at 375°F until golden – about 10 minutes. (see photo above)
• Roasted Garlic Aioli served with Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes or frites
• Serve as a dressing with Roasted Potato Salad, Crispy Bacon and Chive Salad
• Serve as a dressing with Broccoli Cheddar Bacon Salad
• As a spread, for example: Grilled Double Cheese Bacon Sandwich, Sausage and Egg Breakfast Burritos, and Make it Your Own Burger
• As a chip dip or as a dip to Parmesan Pita Crisps: thin out the dressing with yoghurt or sour cream to a dip consistency
• As an accompaniment to Bacon Appetizers (shown below)
• As a spread to make your own Garlic Cheese Toast:  Spread demi-baguette with Roasted Garlic Dressing and toast until golden, spread with shredded cheese and broil until bubbly.  Serve hot. Enjoy!

Here are a few ideas to use the Roasted Garlic Oil:

• Use as a drizzle on pasta or soup
• Substitute the garlic oil in place of vegetable oil in your recipes
• Use to make garlic butter mixture (half butter, half garlic oil)

Here is your visual step-by-step process to How to Make Pan Roasted Garlic Puree and Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing:

You Might Also Enjoy:

Summer Salads – featuring Broccoli Cheddar Bacon Salad and many others

Roasted Potato Salad with Bacon and Chives

LEARNING TIPS:  

Please CLICK the link above to access my UrbnSpice LEARNING TIPS, which are listed alphabetically on the Learning Tips blog post under the following subheadings:

• The Simple Spatula
• Caramelizing Process
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If you try this technique for How to Pan Roast Garlic and/or make the Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing, please leave me a comment below with your feedback.

You can find me on social media (see links below) – just be sure to tag @urbnspice and #urbnspice so I am sure to see it. Enjoy! 

Denise Paré-Watson

The Urbnspice Chef

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