Roasted Garlic Soup

I am pleased and appreciate the opportunity to continue with Cookbook Sundays. Honestly, I use and enjoy my cookbooks daily. They have provided a connection for new friendships and the opportunity to learn new and different cooking methods. They decorate my little computer/craft/sewing room, they are my hobby!

And now with this, the first of many Cookbook Sundays, I get to start each month with Cookbook Sunday and end with my own, Mom's Sunday Cafe. Those monthly Sunday dinners I cook and share with my (very supportive) family, three years in the running and how this blog came to be. We all have a good time, relaxing and visiting, plus I have a great family to offer up all the different foods I want to cook, each month.

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We should not forget What we ARE NOT eating, Wednesdays. As it turns out, there are some recipes in my cookbooks, that I won't be making! I must confess right here and now, the Wednesday posts were born out of desperation. I enjoy blogging, and wanted a posting schedule that was consistent and a workable routine. Since we cannot eat a new recipe of food each day, this seemed like a fun solution. Also, one of us is a bit picky, but I won't say who he is! Little did I know, it would also be so much fun, and now, others are talking about joining in the fun.

There have also been wonderful discoveries along the way,
like M.F.K. Fisher.

 

And sharing the kitchen,

with all my girls, now three generations strong!







Soon she won't need a stool to stand on, when she helps!

Cookbooks really are a big part of my life. I read them regularly and enjoy the whole process of collecting them. I am always on the lookout for new (to me) cookbooks. In addition many people have gifted cookbooks to me, I am still stunned at the generosity of those kind folks, that I also count as friends.

I had been a fairly consistent contributor to Cookbook Sundays at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen, so when Brenda offered to let me take over this fun event, I was thrilled. This is completely in line with my love of cooking, trying new recipes and collecting cookbooks.  It is next to impossible to show my genuine thanks, but I shall try! Thank you, Brenda, this is going to be fun!
And now.......................

......Cookbook Sunday.

Yesterday was a stock day. I had a bag of bones in the freezer and a crock-pot at the ready to work hard for me all day, while I played. The ending result was a gallon of rich chicken stock. While looking through one of the books, I decided upon this simple yet delicious soup.

Roasted Garlic Soup
adapted from:  Take This Dish and Twist It
by:  George Duran

2-3 heads of garlic (full bulbs)
2-3 t olive oil
2 T butter
1/2 c finely chopped onion
2 t paprika
1/2 t ground cumin
4 c rich chicken stock
sea salt 
snipped fresh parsley
Garlic Croutons - see below, you can make these while the garlic roasts.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut top off garlic, wrap in foil leaving the cut edge exposed. Bathe the top with olive oil. Roast 30 minutes, set aside to cool.

Gently squeeze garlic cloves from the head, separating the head if needed to make it possible for the garlic to slip free of the skins. Slice the garlic, if desired.

While the garlic is roasting, you can make the Garlic Croutons.

Assemble the soup:

Melt the butter in a large pan, over medium low heat. Add onion and cook slowly for 5-8 minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent, do not brown. Add stock, paprika and cumin. Bring to a boil, add garlic, reduce heat to simmer, simmer for 15 minutes. When using homemade stock, check for/and adjust salt.

Serve with snipped parsley and the croutons.

Makes 4 servings 

Croutons

4 slices sandwich bread, crusts trimmed
1 T olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed with the back of a knife.


Warm oil over medium heat, add garlic and cook until garlic is brown, remove and discard. Add bread, increase heat to high, gently cook and stir until bread is coated with the garlic oil and golden brown. Remove to cool to paper toweling.

As always, thanks for taking a moment to stop and say hello. I appreciate your time and your comments. Cookbook Sundays link will be open through April 10, 2011. I hope you visit the wonderful contributors this week, I know I will.