Baked Garlic and Onion Cream Soup

 

It’s Fall – time for soup!!  On Sunday, I made two kinds of soup, along with some foccacia and a chocolate sheet cake.  Yep, I have a happy family!!  So, here’s a recipe to warm you up this Fall.

Baked Garlic and Onion Cream Soup

  (Source:  Appleton Post-Crescent Newspaper  By Darryl Kilsdonk)

Ingredients

• 6 large onions, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 2 heads garlic, cloves separated and peeled
• 5 cups chicken stock or canned chicken broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves (I used ground thyme with good results)
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
• 2 cups heavy or whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley for garnish

Directions

• Preheat over to 350 degrees.
• Place the onions and garlic in a shallow roasting pan.  Add 3 cups of the chicken stock.  Sprinkle with the thyme, pepper, and salt.  Dot with butter.
• Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours.  Stir once or twice while it is baking.
• Remove the pan from the oven and use a blender or food processor to puree the onions and garlic with the liquid in batches, until smooth.
• With the motor on, gradually add the remaining 2 cups stock and the cream.  Pour the soup into a large saucepan.
• Adjust the seasonings and slowly heat through.  Do not allow the soup to boil.
• Sprinkle with the parsley and serve.
• Serves 6-8

My modifications

• I don’t have a roasting pan, so I use 2 9x13 glass baking pans and divide the onions and garlic between them.
• I have found that baking the onions for longer than the 1 1/2 hours makes them softer, but also sweeter.  Experiment to see which consistency and flavor you prefer.
• My blender won’t hold all of this soup, so I puree (actually liquefy or grind!) the contents of one baking pan then empty it into the saucepan, then do the contents of the other baking pan and empty it into the saucepan.  I then add the remaining stock (broth) and cream to the saucepan and stir.  I make my soup really smooth, so there’s nothing lost by not having it all in the blender at once.
• I didn’t have enough cream on Sunday, so I used 1 cup of cream and 1 cup of Half and Half with good results.
• This stores well in the fridge for several days.
• I love it with fresh bread – particularly French bread or foccacia.
• This is also a great soup to keep your insides moving, if you know what I mean!!

Here are the other recipes I used Sunday night:

• Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe from Serious Eats
• Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe from Big Mama. 
• Focaccia recipe from Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here for More Food.

Happy Cooking!!

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