Roasted Garlic Soup

This week, my wisdom teeth come out.

I need soup. It’s all I can eat.

Roasted Garlic Soup

Ingredients

6 heads of garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

3 14oz cans chicken broth

3 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into small pieces

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp paprika or red pepper

Black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 325.

Do not peel the garlic, but cut off the top—the pointy bit where the outer skins meet. This exposes the cloves inside.

Put the garlic in a baking pan--one large enough to hold all 6 heads and has deep sides. Add water to the pan to come up to 1/3 the level of the garlic heads. Drizzle the olive oil over the top.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for one hour until soft and tender.

Set it aside until it is cool enough to handle, but not cold.

Pull each clove out from the skins and put them in a bowl. Check them as you’re doing this and make sure none of them are rotting. If some are, just throw out that one clove, not the whole head. Mash them together with a fork. They should be very soft and you should have no trouble mashing them

In a large saucepan, pour in the chicken broth. Add the mashed garlic. Using a whisk or a wooden spoon, stir everything together.

Put the pan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a simmer.

Add the rest of the ingredients, mix them together, and let it simmer for another 5 minutes before serving.

Notes:

To be honest, this isn’t the best recipe in Joy of Cooking. It’s very garlicky. If you love garlic, that’s great for you!

If you feel the soup needs more bulk, add some chopped cooked chicken into the broth.

Also, be warned that excess garlic can cause intestinal distress. Even if you think you really love garlic and you can handle it, this is a lot. So just be warned.