Roast Potato and Garlic Soup

Garlic is one of the world’s best loved ingredients, its use almost universal. Though best handled with care, the flavour garlic is able to bestow on a dish is truly inimitable. However, due to the volatile nature of unadulterated garlic it usually finds itself consigned to the backstage arena of a dish, sacrificing itself for the greater good. Roasting garlic changes all that, removing its harsher notes and drawing out its sweetness. Truly, there is no better way of preparing garlic than this. So, bring this fantastic ingredient to the fore and sample my recipe for Roast Potato and Garlic Soup.

Though you may feel the ratio of garlic to potato in this recipe is a little in favour of the spud, nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, the flavour of this dish is unmistakable, powerful but not overbearing. Should you be able to resist liberating the sticky roasted clove from its skin and devouring it, you’ll be rewarded with an almost caramel-like soup, imbued with the flavour of nutty garlic.

The usual way to prepare potato for a soup or stew is simply to chop it up and cast it into the pot. However, such action would not do the flavour of the soup justice in this case. By roasting your potatoes you provide a mellow, more complementary foundation from which the garlic can really sing. Happily, this also opens up the potential for this recipe to provide an outlet for any leftover spuds you may have lingering from an ill-judged Sunday roast. We’ll have no waste here!

Roast Potato and Garlic Soup

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients:

• 1kg potatoes, quartered

• 1 whole garlic bulb

• 1 onion, roughly chopped

• A few sprigs of thyme

• 1 litre chicken stock

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• A pinch of salt

Method:

1. Cut off the top of the bulb of garlic and place on a roasting tray along with the potatoes. Drizzle in half the oil and roast until golden at 180C.

2. Meanwhile, take a large saucepan and saute the onion in the remaining oil until translucent. Add the potatoes and roasted garlic to the onion, along with the chicken stock and thyme. Cook for 5 minutes.

3. Blend the soup until smooth and top up with a little more stock/water if too thick. Serve alongside bread and a sprig or two of thyme.

Cost: When a soup’s main ingredients are potato and garlic you just know it’s going to be incredibly cheap to make. This recipe for Roast Potato and Garlic Soup certainly doesn’t disappoint and should set you back no more than around £1.50.