A French Garlic Soup

This is a wonderful soup that can be made with little work on a work night. The garlic mellows while it simmers and ends up mild and delicious. Best of all it's a creamy and satisfying soup that has NO cream :)

French Garlic Soup

(This recipe was adapted from 'The French Menu Cookbook' by Richard Olney. Originally published in 1970)

(picture courtesy of Heidi Swanson from 'www.101cookbooks.com')

Ingredients (makes 4 cups of soup)

• 1 quart (4 cups) water
• 1 bay leaf, fresh bay leaves are more fragrant than dried ones
• 2 fresh sage leaves
• 3/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
• a dozen medium cloves of garlic, smashed peeled, and chopped
• 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, preferably grey salt

Binding Pommade

• 1 whole egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 ounces freshly grated Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more to drizzle at the end

• day-old crusty bread,(AJ King's walnut bread is phenomenal here!!)

Directions

Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan and add the bay leaf, sage, thyme, garlic, and salt. Heat to a gentle boil and simmer for 40 minutes. This infused broth can be done ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator or freezer if time is an issue.

Remove from heat and discard the bay and sage leaves from the garlic broth (or strain if you want, but keep the garlic). Taste and add more salt if needed.

With a fork, whisk the egg, egg yolks, cheese, and pepper together in a bowl until creamy. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, beating all the time, then add (slowly! slowly!), continuing to whisk, a large ladleful of the broth. This is tempering, has to be done slowly so you don't cook the eggs, yet! (you will in a moment don't worry). If the soup looks curdled, you went too fast.

Stir the contents of the bowl into the garlic broth and whisk it continuously over low-medium heat until it thickens slightly, (your eggs will cook in this process). The desired thickness is a matter of personal taste. The author says to cook it "just long enough to be no longer watery" I prefer the consistency of half-and-half which is a minute or two longer.

Place a handful of torn bread chunks into the bottom of each bowl and pour the soup over the bread. Finish with a drizzle of very good extra-virgin olive oil, garnish with a sage leaf & thyme sprig and serve immediately.

Buon appetito!