Day 28-31 Days of Samhuinn Cooking-Cream of Roasted Garlic Soup

While visiting my grandfather and his families hometown of Wiscasset, Maine I ate at a local restaurant there that served cream of roast garlic soup.  It was the BEST soup I have ever tasted.  That was about 20 years ago and a longtime search led me to this recipe several years back.


Cream of Roasted Garlic Soup

2 med heads fresh garlic
Olive oil
1/2 c onion, finely chopped
2 TB unsalted butter
1 1/2 c buttermilk
1/2 c cream
2 small potatoes, baked, skins removed
2 tb cognac
1/8 ts fresh dill
Salt to taste

Place garlic heads on cookie sheet, sprinkle with olive oil and bake in 350-degree oven for 1 hour. Let cool. Cut off end of each clove and squeeze out contents. (Garlic will be soft and creamy.) Set aside.

Saute chopped onion in butter until softened. Add buttermilk and cream and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour mixture into a food processor. Rice potato and add with garlic to onion and buttermilk mixture. Puree until smooth. Return mixture to saute pan. Add cognac, dill and salt. Heat thoroughly. If soup is too thin, add additional potato. If soup is too thick, add additional buttermilk. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

Source: unknown

31 Days of Samhuinn Cooking!

Day 18-31 Days of Samhuinn Cooking-Hazelnut Crusted Pork Loin Stuffed with Apples

This is the Happy Birthday Pixie Jane!!!!  edition of 31 Days of Samhuinn Cooking.  My beloved cancer-surviving daughter is 12 years old today!  So in her honor I prepared the meal of her choice, the main course being the following.


Hazelnut Crusted Pork Loin Stuffed with Apples

1 5lb boneless pork roast

3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup hazelnuts, fine chop
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
2 TB fresh rosemary
olive oil

1 apple, peeled and chopped
1 small red onion, fine chop
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 TB olive oil
1 TB fresh thyme
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350*.  Slice roast on side lengthwise until about 3/4in from opposite end and open (like a book).  cover in plastic wrap and pound the pork roast until about 3/4in thick. remove plastic and place roast in roasting pan.

Over medium-high heat, saute onion and apple in olive oil until soft.  Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup bread crumbs, thyme, coriander, ginger, salt and pepper. Let cool.

In a food processor, chop up hazelnuts, rosemary and garlic cloves to a fine meal. Add breadcrumbs and blend with enough olive oil to bind the mixture.

Spoon apple/onion mixture to one half of the pork, wrap up and tie off with kitchen string (or take skewers to hold closed). Cover all sides in hazelnut paste.

Cook according to roast size, about 20 min per pound.

31 Days of Samhuinn Cooking!

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.