Serves: 4-6 - Time:
I haven’t made a mistake, yes I do mean six whole garlic bulbs. But fear not, the long slow cooking gives the garlic a gentle mellow flavour and, although I can’t guarantee there won’t be a hint of garlic on the breath, it won’t be enough to make the eyes water. I highly recommend you buy the large garlic bulbs or it’ll take an age to peel each clove. I leave the cloves whole for cooking as they have less tendency to burn. I have specified homemade chicken stock for the tastiest soup but a good shop bought stock will suffice if time is short.
Ingredients
- 6 whole bulbs garlic
- 20g butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 onions, peeled and chopped
- 450-470g potatoes,(about 3 medium-sized ones) peeled and diced
- 1 litre good homemade chicken stock
- 300ml double cream
- To serve Chopped chives
Method
- Separate the garlic cloves and peel the skins by pressing down lightly on each clove with a flattened knife or with the heel of your hand. The skin should lift off easily. Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan and add the garlic cloves, onion and potatoes. Add a pinch of salt and stir regularly over a low to moderate heat for 25 minutes until the garlic has softened but the vegetables are not coloured.
- Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in the double cream. Leave to cool.
- Liquidise the soup until smooth. Taste and season with salt and ground white pepper. To serve, stir over a low heat until hot but don’t boil the soup. Garnish with fresh chopped chives.