Roasted Garlic Walnut Butter

Question.

Who here is a little freaked out when people talk about savory oatmeal?  I don’t see it all that often around the blogosphere anymore these days, but once upon a time there were tons of bloggers raving about the deliciousness of savory oats.  And me?  I just couldn’t get on board…it was a little too far out for me.

 

I’m a wild child at heart, really.  But savory oatmeal is just a tad too wild.  Which leads me to believe that maybe I should retract the prior sentence.

 

Anyway.

I feel like I’m totally breaking all the rules with this recipe though.  I mean savory nut butter?!  For real?  Can this even be a good thing?

 

Like I said y’all, wild child.  You can’t stop me…no, you caaaaaaaaannoooooooooooooot stop me! (Someone please tell me that quote didn’t go unnoticed…)

Let me just say this:  I really don’t know if I can just go back to regular ol’ peanut butter.  It’s good, I like it in my normal sweet oatmeal but it just doesn’t have that wham-bam-thank-ya-ma’am wow factor that this savory stuff possesses. The nut butter boat has been rocked and I’m just sorry I’m not sorry.

ROASTED GARLIC WALNUT BUTTER

• 2 cups toasted walnuts
• 1 bulb garlic
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

First things first cut the top 1/3 of the garlic bulb off (I like to use a serrated knife, but be careful – I take no responsibility for injuries due to garlic cutting).  Place the garlic on a piece of foil and rub the tablespoon of olive oil on the cut ends.  Wrap it in the foil so that the steam won’t get out, place on a sheet pan in a cold oven, turn it on to 325 and set the timer for 45 minutes.  When the timer goes off you’ll have face-rocking perfect roasted garlic!  Wait til it cools to continue – I’m not responsible for burned fingers either!

 

When the garlic has cooled squeeze the cloves out into a food processor, along with the walnuts and salt and pepper.  Pulse about 10 times to get everything minced a bit, and then turn the processor on and leave it.  You’ll need to scrape down the sides every couple of minutes or so, but eventually the walnuts and garlic will come together and form a smooth nut butter consistency.  If it’s too dry and crumbly add a bit more olive oil until it reaches the desired consistency.  Mine was smooth for spreading but appeared a little crumbly, but once you spread it on some warm toasted bread it ain’t no thing.  Trust me.

 

Enjoy!

Moral of the story:  being a culinary wild child (sarcasm) can be a good thing!