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I wanted to make something that was garlic forward. You can't get much more forward than using 4 heads of garlic. Garlic soup is part of the cuisine of several countries, perhaps most famously Spanish cuisine (sopa de ajo). There are different ways to prepare a garlic soup, so I didn't feel bad about some of the things I did here. Cheese isn't normally part of garlic soup, but it worked so beautifully here (and, seriously, are you going to turn down Gruyère in any recipe? I wouldn't).
I have never had to use such a massive volume of garlic in one recipe before. I decided to use a technique that I learned from Robert Irvine to quickly peel the skin from a large number of cloves:
1. Separate the cloves from the head. Then, place them in a bowl:
2. Cover with a like-sized bowl. Shake vigorously.
3. Open the bowl and check the results. Repeat step 2 as needed.
It seems that you also need the biceps of Robert Irvine to make this work. I tried this, and only a few (maybe 20%) of the cloves peeled their skins off. I think it helped somewhat.
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Another fun thing about working with a massive volume of garlic: my fingers got sticky! I did not expect that.
I am also well aware of the traditional technique of roasting the garlic head as a whole, with the cloves still part of the head and the skin on. But, for this recipe, I didn't relish squeezing every clove out one at a time to extract the roasted garlic. You do lose some of the garlic (since it sticks to the skin), and I didn't want to do that. And, another bonus when you're done roasting the garlic this way:
Garlic-infused oil!
Just strain it through a sieve, and save it for another use (such as dipping bread).
Finally, for those who joined the recent knife discussion thread, I used my awesome Wusthof knife to chop the onion. A sharp knife means fewer tears when slicing an onion because it doesn't shatter the cell walls quite as much as a dull knife. I've known this for a long time, but I appreciate being reminded by my fellow home cooks that using your best knife all the time is a good thing.
Ingredients
1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
6 tablespoons butter
4 heads of garlic, peeled
1/2 cup olive oil (enough to immerse the cloves)
2 teaspoons ground sage
3 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated
4 slices day old bread
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
3 cups chicken stock
Directions
1. Melt butter in a large pot on medium low heat. Add chopped onion and sweat onion for 30 minutes.
2. Add garlic cloves to a small, high-walled oven-safe pan. Add oil to the pan to immerse all the cloves. Cook at 400°F (205°C) for 20 minutes. Extract cloves with a slotted spoon; save oil for another use.
3. Add all remaining ingredients to the pot. Raise heat to medium, and heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove bay leaf and discard. Add contents of pot to a blender and blend until smooth.
5. Serve with croutons if desired.
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