Garlic Soup with Toasted Cheese Topping

I love garlic, just about every way it comes. I had been thinking of doing a garlic soup for a few weeks now. Rich, creamy and a garlicky sweet treat. So, I thought I would make some for our special Christmas Eve dinner.  This may have been a little rough on our dogs.

Not having the time to fuss over a Dutch oven on the stove all day, we decided to make our soup in the crock pot. We had some shopping to do for our special yearly dinner so I started my soup in the crock pot before we left. It had 2 cups of peeled garlic, 4 large sweet onions in 4 cups of beef broth. I wanted this to cook soft while we were gone so I could do the next stage easily.

Normally when we get home the dogs start their welcome home racket as soon as they hear the car. Barking, crying and jumping like we have been gone a hundred years. First I notice I don’t hear anything. Then the very strong aroma of cooking garlic all the way out to the street. I had to laugh, it was very strong outside and I could only imagine what it must be like inside. The garlic is so strong inside I am laughing out loud now. No dogs when I open the door, I find them in the kitchen in a trance watching the crock pot because they know it’s gonna be good…whatever it is.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 7 hours on high

Crock Pot

Ingredients:

6 cups peeled garlic cloves

6 large sweet onions

4 cups beef broth

4 cups water

2 cups heavy cream

2 TBSP. onion soup mix

2 TBSP. beef bouillon

2 TBSP. fresh crushed black peppercorns

1 TBSP. cumin

1 TBSP. beef base

1 tsp. liquid smoke

Sliced Muenster cheese, to taste

Sliced Swiss cheese, to taste.

Sliced sourdough bread

Sweet, creamy, rich and garlicky

Directions: Do a rough chop on 2 cups of peeled garlic and 4 large sweet onions just so they can cook through a little faster. You are going to cream them. Add 4 cups of beef broth with the onions and garlic and cook on high for 4 hours.

Add 4 cups cold water and 2 cups cream. You want it to cool down a little so you can blend it without making a mess and burning yourself. Most folks already know this but I am slow and had to learn the hard way. If you pour your hot soup into a blender it will blow out the top when you turn it on, making a mess and burning you. I don’t do that anymore. If you use your immersion blender in a hot soup it will melt. So, cool it down here.

After adding the water and cream you want to blend it until it’s nice and smooth. You will know when it’s ready. This is a good time to add your seasoning so you can blend them, too. I used an immersion blender for this, also.

Now that you have the heart of your soup you can add the goodies. Add 2 cups of whole peeled garlic, 2 large sweet onions sliced and quartered. We like our soup chunky. Now, back into the Crockpot on high until the garlic is soft and sweet.

To serve, just place the soup in a bowl and cover it with a slice of sour dough bread and then your cheese. Patti used two slices of Swiss and two slices of Muenster on each bowl to make it extra gooey. She says it doubles your pleasure and doubles your yum. Cute kid, she. Then, melt the cheese in the oven or like we did on the grill.

We used a Grill Plate to melt our cheese on the Royall Grill

About our Recipes

We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Royall Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker, Traeger, Char Griller side box smoker, Charmglow, Char-Broil, The Big Easy, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles are healthy and low fat and will fit pellet heads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But sometimes it does rain.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Live your Passion,

Ken & Patti

http://datenightdoins.com

Check out Grill Plate for baking outdoors on your BBQ. We just did a Mocha Pecan Cheesecake on ours.

http://www.grillinnovations.com