Think Garlic! Spanish Potato Garlic Soup

First, apologies in advance for the crappy cell phone picture. My camera's in John's car.

I wanted to love this, my second selection from my focus cookbook of the month: Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites. It has all of the components for bringing warm and flavorful comfort on a cold rainy winter day. Long a lover soups with 'cream of' in the title but trying to watch my waistline, I'm slowly making peace with soups with chunks. And with a broth containing 20 roasted and pulverized cloves, it was the *perfect* contribution to Sunita's Think Spice - Think Garlic event.

Sadly, despite the sweet spicy garlic, a pungent CSA onion and smoky paprika, it failed to deliver the flavor. I'm really wondering if this is another case of operator error. Others have enjoyed it. But for me, it wasn't even the sum of its parts. Sorry Sunita. I tried.

I'll finish it, but I won't try it again. And unless the next couple of experiments with Moosewood are phenomenal, I'm going to clear a space on my bookshelf, offering this one as a donation in the next library fund-raiser.

Spanish Potato Garlic Soup
from Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites

For the Garlic Broth:
1 large head of garlic (about 2o cloves)
1/4 cup white miso
3 cups water
3 cups vegetable stock

For the Soup:
1 large onion, thinly sliced (2 cups)
2 large potatoes, thinly sliced (I used russets and left the skin on)
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Heat oven (or toaster oven) to 400.

Separate and peel garlic cloves. Place on dry pie plate and roast for 15-20 minutes (until golden but not browned).

While the garlic's roasting, slice the onion and potatoes, and chop the tomato.

Puree garlic in a blender with miso and water. Add to vegetable broth and bring to a simmer.

Heat olive oil over medium heat in large skillet. Saute onions, potatoes and paprika 5-7 minutes, until onions are tender but not brown. Add tomatoes and thyme and simmer 5 minutes, until most of tomato liquid is absorbed/evaporated.

Add potato mixture to broth and simmer until potatoes are tender.

Serve with crusty sour dough bread.

Others who've tried this recipe:
Conrad at Green Edmonton gives us a local/organic/sustainable riff on this recipe.
Skona of Skona Life recommends this for warding off the winter chill.

Technorati Tags: Food | Recipe | Food Blog Event | Think Garlic!