This is cream of garlic and onion soup a great winter soup. A true taste of France. Wholesome and very tasty. Of course, you’ve got to like garlic and onions but, assuming you do, this is a winner.
Just imagine a French farmhouse kitchen with all of the family going about their daily activities. Some out to work, some of the kids may be at school. They all come in from the cold at different times but you have this wonderful hot pot of garlic and onion soup ready to warm them up. Some cheese and chive scones too. Just for dipping into the soup! Yum!!
Cream of garlic and onion soup
I use shallots instead of onions, but this is purely a personal taste preference. Either will do. Same with the stock. You can use chicken or vegetable stock. I generally use vegetable but today I used chicken simply because I ran out of vegetable stock. This soup is very versatile. It really is up to you.
Let’s make it…
1. Gather all of the ingredients together
The measurements for the ingredients are in the printable recipe below but apart from the garlic, onions and stock, all you need for this soup is some celery, saffron, bay leaf, lemon juice, butter and cream. Oh, and a touch of dry sherry and 3 tablespoons of risotto rice, to help with the thickening. Pretty simple really.
Gather all of the ingredients together
For preparation just chop roughly the garlic, onions and celery. No need to worry about the garlic clove skins. You’ll pass the soup through a sieve later so just leave these on for added flavour.
Finally, make sure you soak the saffron threads for at least 10 minutes before adding to the soup. And keep the water. This will also add to the soup’s flavour.
2. Prepare and cook the base soup
To prepare the soup, first, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the roughly chopped shallots and the bay leaf and sweat off for 2-3 minutes. Do not burn the shallots so use the saucepan lid to cover and add moisture if required.
Sweat off the shallots
When the shallots start to soften add the garlic and celery and cook through for another 2-3 minutes. Stick with the low heat. You don’t want to brown any of the ingredients otherwise you will darken the soup’s colour, and, potentially, make the soup taste bitter.
Add the garlic and celery
Now, add the saffron and the water used to soak the saffron along with the sherry. Heat this through until the sherry has reduced by half. You can increase the heat a little hear if needed.
Add the saffron and sherry
Once the sherry has reduced add the stock and risotto rice and bring to a simmer.
Add the stock and rice
Keep this simmering for at least 20 minutes. It will ready for finishing off when the risotto rice is soft and cooked through.
3. Finish the soup ready and serve
To finish the soup you first need to blend all of the ingredients and then pass through a sieve to remove any of the garlic or onions husks.
To blend, use a food processor if you have one. A hand blender will also do the job. Blend in batches if you need to. Once blended pass through a standard sieve back into the clean saucepan. Make sure you press all of the solid ingredients that are left to extract as much of the flavour as you can.
Once blended pass through a sieve
With the soup passed back into the saucepan simply reheat and add the lemon juice and cream.
Add the cream and lemon juice
Season this to taste and you are ready to serve.
4. Serve the soup with bread or cheese and chive croutons
With the soup hot and seasoned you can now serve in soup bowls. The easy accompaniment is fresh crusty bread. However, if you feel like pushing the boat out a little why not do what I did and make some cheese and chive scones. You can find the recipe by clicking the link or the picture below.
Cheese and chive scones
I ended up crumbling a couple of the scones up and sprinkling them over the soups as croutons and serving an individual scone to each of my guests to dip in as the wanted. They were a real hit!!
Well, that’s it my friends. A very tasty and creamy garlic and onion soup this time. I hope you enjoyed it. If you give it a go I love to know how you get on so just use the comments section below. All views welcome.
If you’d like to be kept up to date on new recipes as they are added just sign up to the newsletter at the top of this page. Or have look at other recipes from The Yum Yum Club like those below…
As always, many thanks for reading and until next time… Steve.
5. Nutritional values
6. Printable recipe
Cream of garlic and onion soup. How much more French can you get? Just remember, if you're planning on kissing after dinner you'll need to share...???? Yum! | theyumyumclub.com
- 3 bulbs of garlic
- 12 shallots (or 4 large onions)
- 1 pinch of saffron
- 2 sticks of celery
- 90 grams butter
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tbsp sherry
- 3 tbsp risotto rice
- 1.2 litres vegetable or chicken stock
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 1 small tub of fresh single cream
- Seasoning
-
First, gather all of the ingredients together.
-
Remove the outer skin from the garlic bulbs and chop roughly. No need to remove the clove skins. Chop the shallots or onions and celery the same.
-
Using a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat and add the shallots or onions. Sweat these off gently using the lid of the pot if needed.
-
After a couple of minutes add the celery and garlic and sweat through, again for a couple of minutes or so.
-
Now, add the saffron, bay leaf and sherry and let the sherry reduce by half.
-
Now, add the stock and the risotto rice. Cook this through for at least 20 minutes until the rice has cooked properly and is soft. Stir occasionally.
-
Using a food processor or hand blender, blend the soup to a smooth texture. You will still have some of the garlic skin but don't worry about this as you will sieve this afterwards to remove any large items.
-
Once blended, pass through a sieve back into the clean saucepan.
-
Finally, heat back through and add the cream and the lemon juice. Once hot season to taste.
-
Now, serve with cheese and chive croutons and cheese and chive scones. Yum!!
Leave a Reply