Garlic Soup... it's good for what ails you!

Greetings!

Over the past few days, I've been stricken by a cold/virus of some sort. At first, I thought that it was just my allergies in overdrive, but, when my Allergi-TEA wasn't working it's normal magic, I realized that it must be something a bit more than just allergies. Now, Allergi-TEA will help alleviate some of the symptoms associated with a cold/virus, it's not going to knock it out because of the viral nature of the cold. Or something like that. It certainly is still quite nice when I have a cold, keeping my throat from getting too irritated.

But, when I do have a cold, it's time to bring out the heavy artillary. I always reach for pineapple juice when I have a cold or flu, because there is an enzyme in pineapple that helps break up proteins (another reason why pineapple is THE BEST topping for a pizza) and... well, not trying to be gross or anything, but proteins = mucus when you have a cold/virus/flu. Pineapple is extremely effective in breaking up the mucus... plus it's cheaper and tastier (and better for you!) than OTC mucus medications.

Anyways... On to my secret weapon when I have a cold! It's actually a new recipe I stumbled upon... well, I didn't actually stumble upon it aka http://www.stumbleupon.com (and hey, if you're a member of stumbleupon.com... please feel free to stumble my blog, and, if you'd like, you can add me as a friend: Liberteas on Stumble Upon) but... more accurately, it's a recipe that I went in search of, after recalling an article I had read many years ago about a restaurant in New York City that sold only soup, and one of their best selling days was the day that they featured a cream of garlic soup. Thinking that I must try that some day, I deposited that thought somewhere in the back of my brain... until one day this past week I thought I'd look it up, and I found a recipe that I thought sounded delicious... so I tried it.

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com however, after reading many of the comments about how thin the soup ended up, I decided to alter it a bit... so this is the recipe as I made it:

Garlic Soup

2 heads of Garlic (full bulbs)
3 tsp olive oil
1 carton College Inn Culinary Broth - White Wine and Herb
(Note: It's not often when I suggest one particular brand of an ingredient, however, I found this broth recently at my local grocery store, and since it contains not only chicken broth, but also white wine... not to mention the herbs, I chose this to make my garlic soup, rather than buying chicken broth and white wine. If you choose to go with another broth, you should adjust the amount and add a little white wine to the mix)
1 cup of heavy cream
1 cup of half & half
1 large russet potato, cut into small cubes (I washed the potato and left the peel on, but you could peel it if you want)
salt & pepper to taste

In the bowl of your food processor, process the garlic until it forms a thick paste, be sure to stop while processing once or twice to scrape the sides of the processor bowl to ensure even processing. In a large saucepan over low heat, heat the olive oil and then cook the garlic paste until it some of it begins to turn brown. You must stir the garlic constantly, or it will stick, and do not turn the heat up too high as garlic goes from delicious to burned (yuck) very quickly. This is the most tedious part of the recipe, it takes some time and some diligence, but, you will be rewarded.

Once the garlic begins to turn golden brown, add the carton of broth, and stir, stir, stir. Bring to a boil, and then drop the heat down to a simmer and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

Combine the milk and cream together in a bowl, and temper the mixture with a couple of ladles of soup. Then, stir in the potatoes and the milk mixture to the soup. Bring the heat back up to a simmer, and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, puree the potato chunks. Serve.

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This creates a very thin soup, even with the adjustments I made to the liquids. But... it's gonna knock your cold/virus out. Serve it with some good, crusty bread, and it's a very good meal for someone who's sick.

The next day (today), I decided to heat the leftovers back up. The soup was a little thicker after a night chilling and then reheating... however, I decided that since I was feeling a bit better, I wanted something a little heartier... so I decided to heat it up and add a couple more potatoes (2 medium size russets) to the soup. I brought the soup to a simmer, added the potatoes (cut to a small dice) and simmered it for another 30 minutes... The result was a very thick soup, or... the makings of a very thin, garlic-y mashed potato, heavy on the garlic! I also added a little more half and half, about a cup more. When I reheat again, I will probably add a little more half and half just to make it more bisque-like, and less mashed potato like... LOL!

Anyways... the soup is very delicious... and like the title says, it's good for what ails you! Knocked that cold right out of my head and while I do have just a little bit of chest congestion left, that will be gone (thanks to the pineapple juice) in a day or two.

~Anne