02 October 2011

Day 2-31 Days of Samhuinn Cooking-Two Roasted Garlicky Soups

I love garlic. When I cook anything for mine or Pixie's consumption my motto is "go big or stay home" (yes, doesn't really fit here but oh well). I will at least double the amount in any dish. I love it for it's flavor and it's medicinal properties. Plus it could be why I've never been bitten by a vampire, still looking into that...

Yesterday was a very rainy and rather chilly day. Pixie woke with the beginnings of a cold and because of her leukemia treatment I cannot give her any of my usual repertoire so I go back to one of the staples of nature's medicine cabinet. Garlic!

I have been promising her noodly soup all week, she isn't overly fond of soups but this is one she does enjoy. The first is actually the base for the soup I made later on.

Pixie's Thymey-whymey Garlicky Noodle Soup

8 cups (or so) chicken or vegetable broth/stock
4 heads of garlic, roasted*
1 tied bundle of thyme and rosemary (I take dried sprigs and toss them in while the base simmers then scoop out)
salt and pepper, to taste

(The above is the BASE SOUP-more with that below)

1 package of soba noodles

To roast the garlic, preheat oven to 350*F. I cut off the tops of the heads of garlic (above pic) and set them into muffin tins. I fill the empty cups with a bit of water and then cover the lot with some aluminum and set it in the over for at least 40 min. Yesterday I forgot about it and it sat in there nearer an hour. Still came out great. So the garlic is done when it's squishy and the garlic is gooey. Let cool and then comes the messy part, getting the gooey garlic out.

I ended up squeezing the entire head and working the garlic out clove by clove. to pull it apart is incredibly time consuming and if you have kids who love getting messy this would be an ideal job for them. The garlic can be added to soups or spread on toast, warm bread, anything you can possibly think of.

Roasted Garlic Soup with Mushrooms and Wild Rice

Starting with the base soup (above-minus the noodles) at the boil add:

1 cup wild rice

Reduce heat to low and cover. Let simmer 1 hour.

To the soup add

2c. mushrooms-Sauteed in a bit of olive oil with 1/2 a chopped onion.(I first soak dried mushrooms (porcini, woodear, chanterelle, oyster, shitaki, your choice) in hot water until they are reconstituted)
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 tsp coriander
pinch of ground cardamom

Let simmer on low for an hour (or so..I let this sit for hours)


Slowcooker alternative: toss the above into a slow cooker (minus the herbs and spices), instead of sauteeing the mushrooms you can reconstitute dried and toss on in and let cook on low overnight or 8hrs. Add broth/stock as needed and the herbs and spices should go in for simmering 30-45min before serving.

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