This is an updated version of an old recipe from “A Kitchen Witch’s Cookbook.” The original recipe called for two heads of pureed elephant garlic and one head of regular garlic. I’ve changed it to use more readily available and less bitter regular garlic and roasted it to bring out the sweet notes. It’s supposed to be a soup but I think it’d be much better as a cheese sauce over steamed or roasted veggies like cauliflower or broccoli.

Use rice flour to make it gluten free and almond milk and nondairy “cheese” to make it dairy free.

Roast the garlic in advance since it needs to cool before use.

1 lb garlic (10-12 heads)
1/4 cup olive oil
6 stalks celery, minced
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken stock
3 Tbs flour
3 Tbs butter

Preheat oven to 400*F. Put heads of garlic in a baking dish, root side down. Pour olive oil over the top of the garlic. Cover the dish tightly with tin foil. Bake for 45 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Cut the tops off the garlic heads once cool and squeeze out the garlic cloves, making sure to remove any garlic paper. In a medium sauce pot, saute the celery in butter until the celery is soft. Add the flour to form a paste. Stir in the milk and chicken stock a little at a time until smooth and well combined. Add the garlic and cheese. Stir until the cheese is completely melted.