44-Clove Garlic Soup

Well, some of the little Non-Typicals caught a cold and we're having a sick day today. If you know anything about those of us who like natural remedies, then you know what I'm doing...trying to get as much garlic into them as possible (along with Vitamin D for immune support).

Why garlic? Garlic is a great natural antibiotic. We've used garlic for ear pain/infection, chest congestion, sore throat, skin infections, thrush, etc. There are just as many ways to take garlic as there are ailments to treat with it. If you can't get little ones (or big ones) to eat garlic raw by the clove, you have to get creative. We like pickled garlic, roasted garlic, sautéed garlic, garlic oil. We even take garlic juice by the spoonful when we need it. Commercial garlic juice has garlic juice, vinegar, and salt and you can find it near the spices and seasonings in most grocery stores.

Be sure to leave your crushed/chopped/diced garlic sitting out in the air to strengthen for 10-15 minutes before you submit it to heat. Otherwise, the heat will kill its healing properties.

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Another great powerhouse herb for colds? Thyme! Thyme helps break up mucus (so does garlic, for that matter.) So in other words, this is THE soup for treating colds. In my opinion, of course.

Disclaimer: This recipe does call for heavy cream and Parmesan. Since we know that dairy products create mucus, we would typically avoid dairy when we're sick. But this is a rather mild cold so I don't think it will be a problem. You can easily skip the cream and Parmesan if you want a less creamy version.

So let's get starting making this super-garlicky "sick soup." First, you need to separate 44 cloves of garlic.

You're going to leave 26 cloves unpeeled. I did crush mine first so that the peels would be open later. Put them in an oven-safe bowl and pour in 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir to mix.

Cover tightly with foil and place in a 350 degree oven. Roast until cloves are tender, about 45 minutes.

When they're done, the cloves will be soft and they will come easily out of the papery peels. Crushing them first means you get the cloves out whole and you don't end up squeezing them.

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While your 26 cloves are roasting, crush and peel the other 18 cloves and set aside.

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-heat. Add sliced onions and thyme. Cook until onions are translucent.

Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skins and add to the pot. Add the raw garlic cloves as well. Cook for about 3 minutes.

Add chicken broth. I was running low, so I used chicken and beef broth. And to be honest, it didn't look like this was going to make much so I added some extra water. This was still a very flavorful soup.

Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until garlic is tender. Blend in batches until smooth or use a submersion blender. Forgive me, but I forgot to photograph this step.

Then you return the soup to the saucepan and add the cream. Bring the liquid to a simmer and season with salt and pepper. This is what the soup looked like after the cream, salt, and pepper were added.

Divide Parmesan cheese into bowls. Ladle soup on top. Garnish with the juice of one lemon wedge and serve. Like I said, I added extra water, so I might have ended up with 1 1/2 quarts of soup. I had the little ones sip on this because the main thing was getting them their garlic. If it had made more, there's no doubt that they would have devoured the pot! It's really tasty for a "sick soup."

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44-Clove Garlic Soup
26 garlic cloves, unpeeled
18 garlic cloves, peeled
2 cups sliced onions
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
3 cups chicken stock
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 lemon wedges

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place 26 unpeeled garlic cloves in a small glass baking dish. Add the olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake until garlic is golden brown and tender (about 45 minutes). Cool. Squeeze garlic between fingertips to release cloves. Transfer cloves to small bowl. Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and thyme and cook until onions are translucent (about 6 minutes). Add roasted garlic and 18 raw garlic cloves and cook for 3 minutes. Add chicken stock; cover and simmer until garlic is very tender (about 20 minutes). Working in batches, pureé soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to saucepan. Add cream and bring to a simmer. Season with sea salt and pepper. Divide grated cheese among 4 bowls and ladle soup over cheese. Squeeze juice of 1 lemon wedge into each bowl and serve. This can be prepared a day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Serves 4.

This and many other great recipes can be found in the Pieces of the Past Cookbook.