Roast Garlic Soup

Roasted French Inspired Garlic Soup – this is a kind of soup best for nights when you’re craving a steaming hot brothy soup with some veggies. Easy homemade roast garlic is the protagonist of this soup and has an unusual umami rich flavor. It’s a fun Pre dinner soup to make any night of the week, especially during these cold months. It’s warming, cozy, and delicious.

This soup keeps reappearing in the soup rotation of our winter lunches or pre dinners quiet often and is perfect during the holiday season. There are two parts to the soup, roasting the garlic and making the soup. Roast garlic is simple to make and a delicious staple item to have stashed in the fridge (for this recipe you’ll need 4). I recommend make a few extra heads and stash away to smear on toast, add to pasta or add umami flavor to other recipes, its absolutely fabulous. The veggies are optional, however they bring added texture and nutrition to the soup, so I highly recommend it.  

Roast Garlic Soup with Mushrooms and Spinach

INGREDIENTS

• 4-5 medium heads of garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter plus more for soup
• 1 medium onion, slice
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, this is in addition to the heads
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 4-5 cups chicken broth, low-sodium or vegetable broth
• ½ cup cream ½ n ½ full fat oat milk works well too
• sea salt as needed
• Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, optional
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 3-4 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Toasted croutons, drizzled optional

INSTRUCTIONS

1. To roast garlic:
2. Preheat the oven to 350° F. 
3. Cut the root portion off where the garlic attaches to the base, this makes a stable base for the garlic to sit. Peel the outer papery skins of the garlic, place garlic in small pieces of foil or a glass baking dish. 
4. Drizzle a little olive oil and toss to coat. Cover tightly with a lid or wrap the foil as shown and bake until garlic is golden brown and tender, about 40 minutes. 
5. Transfer cloves to small bowl.

To prepare the soup

• Melt butter or warm oil in a heavy, large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion, thyme and cook until the onion are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté for another 3 minutes until cooked.
• Add the roasted garlic by squeezing the pulp out of the heads plus the 3 chopped garlic cloves and cook a couple of minutes to release some of the raw garlic aroma. 
• Add chicken or vegetable broth; cover and simmer until garlic is very tender, about 20 minutes. Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth or puree with an immersion blender
• Return soup to the saucepan, add oat milk or cream, or any other milk you are using, and bring to a low simmer just to reheat the soup, making sure the heat is very low to prevent curdling. Taste and season well with salt and black pepper. Add the baby spinach and heat through just enough to wilt the leaves. Take it off the heat.
• Divide the grated 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese among 4 bowls and ladle soup over. Each bowl will get about 2 tablespoons of cheese.
• Squeeze juice of 1 lemon wedge into each bowl and serve with croutons if using.

NOTES

• If making a large batch ahead of time, roast the garlic heads and place the cooled garlic heads in a or covered dish and refrigerate until needed. 
• Roasted garlic cloves makes a fabulous garlic paste to smear on toasted bread or tossed in pasta. The oil after roasting is delicious too and can be used in a variety of recipes.