This weekend we decided to use our free time to experiment and finally get to try out some fun activities we have been postponing for a while. One of those long-awaited activities was to actually make a soup. But not just any soup. A soup with 52 GARLIC CLOVES. Yeah, you heard right. 52 of them.
Our friend Tessy told us about it a while ago, and of course, we couldn’t resist trying it out. So we got together and we spent our saturday afternoon cooking this crazy garlic soup.
We started out with this recipe, but we adapted it by using plant-based fat instead of butter, as we’d have our vegan friend Olo spontaneously popping by later. While cooking it up, we also realized it wasn’t consistent enough for us, so we also added some potatoes for more texture. It was delicious. Seriously, people, you gotta try this. Contrary to what you might think, it wasn’t overly garlicky at all, rather more fragrant because of the ginger, and tangy thanks to the freshly squeezed lemon at the end.
Besides, it’s super healthy. Garlic shouldn’t just be used to ward off vampires (halloween joke totally intended), it wards off colds too.
52 GARLIC CLOVE SOUP – Serves 4
- 26 garlic cloves (unpeeled)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons plant-based fat such as margarine or coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
- 1/2 cup fresh ginger
- 2 1/4 cups sliced onions
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- 26 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 3 1/2 cups veggie broth
- 5 potatoes, washed & cut into small cubes
- 4 lemon wedges
Preheat oven to 350F. Place 26 of the unpeeled garlic cloves in small glass baking dish. Toss with olive and sea salt. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake until garlic is golden brown and tender, about 45 minutes. Let cool. Squeeze garlic between fingertips to release cloves (it can get quite sticky here!), into a small bowl.
Melt coconut oil (or margarine) in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions, thyme, ginger and cayenne powder and cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add roasted garlic and 26 of the raw garlic cloves and cook 3 minutes. Pour in the veggie broth; cover and simmer until garlic is very tender, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes and cook for another 10. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to saucepan; add coconut milk and bring to simmer. Season with sea salt and pepper for flavour.
Squeeze juice of 1 lemon wedge into each bowl and serve. Yum.
This soup was an excellent opportunity to get together with friends. It’s crazy how we sometimes forget how simple gatherings like these can bring so much peace of mind after a busy week.
So, if you ever got too much garlic around to deal with, you know what you gotta do.
