Garlic...mmm...I love it, but often feel limited by it other than as a seasoning. This month will feature 3 recipes (2 of which are my favorite ways to enjoy everything garlic has to offer). So I guess technically I'm cheating on my resolution, but I just have to share them with you. Maybe I'll be an over-acheiver and try some more recipes...but I doubt it.
The first recipe is a new one for me. It was taken from the 101 Cookbooks website here.
Richard Olney's Garlic Soup Recipe
1 quart (4 cups) water
1 bay leaf
2 sage leaves
3/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
a dozen medium cloves of garlic, smashed peeled, and chopped
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
Binding pommade:
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
day-old crusty bread & more olive oil to drizzle
Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan and add the bay leaf, sage, thyme, garlic, and salt. Heat to a gentle boil and simmer for 40 minutes. Strain into a bowl, remove the bay and sage leaves from the strainer, and return the broth and garlic back to the saucepan, off the heat. Taste and add more salt if needed.
With a fork, whisk the egg, egg yolks, cheese, and pepper together in a bowl until creamy. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, beating all the time, then add (slowly! slowly!), continuing to whisk, a large ladleful of the broth. Stir the contents of the bowl into the garlic broth and whisk it continuously over low-medium heat until it thickens slightly. Olney states, "just long enough to be no longer watery." I usually let it go a wee-bit beyond that - until it is the consistency of half-and-half or cream. Place a handful of torn bread chunks into the bottom of each bowl and pour the soup over the bread. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil, and serve immediately.
Makes about 4 cups of soup.
This recipe was adapted from The French Menu Cookbook by Richard Olney. Originally published in 1970, this edition was republished by Ten Speed Press in 2002.
A few personal notes:
DO NOT...for even one second...step away from the soup once you have combined the binding pommade in it. You will regret it...I promise. It's not that it takes away from the flavor of the soup, but it takes away from the appearance (and we all know that we eat with our eyes first). What happens is the cheese and egg start to separate from the broth and it looks a little weird. It still tastes fine, but I do think that it takes away from the dish.
I would also like to note that while making this dish made me try a new cooking technique (using a binding pommade), I would rather make potato soup and add a lot of garlic to it during the cooking process (either when boiling the potatoes or right before I puree the soup). But it was good and one I will probably try again if I am short on potatoes and can't make potato soup.
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