Is there a way to roast garlic without oil?

Benny, for a few cloves of garlic to add to your dish, yes, a stovetop is preferable to turning on the oven. And it takes about 10 minutes, not 40. No special equipment required.

My friend's 'roasted' garlic is more like 'toasted' garlic. She puts whole unpeeled garlic in a dry frying pan and heats it, constanting stirring, until the garlic is cooked. This produces garlic with a roasted flavor, no oil to deal with and is great during the summer when the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven.

Great! Thank you!

Oil's not needed regardless of your diet :)

- Cut the bulb at the root end, to expose all the cloves - cutting the top only exposes some of them.

- Sprinkle some water - a teaspoon or so - to help steam and wrap bulb tightly in foil. If you want you can make a little pedestal of foil to set the packet on, to prevent the bottom of the garlic from burning.

- Low and slow: 250F-300F or so until caramelized, about 90 minutes or so (will depend on oven, cooking pan, size of garlic, etc. - just check it at 45-60 minutes and every 20 minutes or so after that).

I would try cutting the tops of of garlic heads, seasoning them with salt and pepper (and herbs, if you like), wrapping each one in foil, and roasting them dry at 400? for about 45 minutes or until soft. The result won't be the same as if you'd used oil, but you should be able to get that sweet, mild garlic flavor you're after.