Microwaving whole cloves of garlic makes prepwork a breeze, takes
less time than peeling and chopping, and a whole a lot less time to
do it than to show how to do it!
It gives oven-roasted mellow garlic flavor in a few minutes, and
makes the garlic press an instrument of joy. Many cooks turn their
noses up at pressed garlic because it is 'crude' or makes the garlic
'too strong' compared to larger pieces that cook more gently.
Zapping it first TAMES THE FLAVOR so that you're adding mellow sweet
nutty garlic wonderfulness to your fresh sauces (I was prepping for
hummus in these videos) as well as cooked preparatons and not
overwhelming Ka-POW! to your food.
Add the zapped, pressed garlic after sauteeing to other ingredients
to avoid scorching; it is already cooked so doesn't need that tricky
step of taming in hot oil with all the risks of scorching.
Try it, and you may never go back to the slow peel & slice &
dice again.
FYI, my convection microwave is not the most powerful; you'll need
to determine the right time for your microwave by listening for
those pops when the garlic creates enough steam to pop the outer
layer of skin (and becomes very easy to peel).