Garlic soup with boletus

Miriam, author of El Invitado de Invierno , brings us a recipe that is worth trying from the first day the cold weather sets in: this version of garlic soup will warm you up while you enjoy all of its characteristic flavor . Enjoy!

There is nothing more appealing when it's cold than a good soup, so let's prepare this garlic and boletus soup.

With this succulent dish we give a twist to the very traditional and somewhat crude garlic soup. To do this we eliminate the sausage and leave only its memory thanks to the sweet paprika. At the last moment we add some delicious chunks of boletus and we obtain a soup that is lighter than the original, and with softer and less aggressive flavours, perhaps more to the current taste.

De Buyer copper saucepan and Bérard olive wood cutting board

Ingredients (for 2 people)

4 cloves of garlic

25gr of virgin olive oil

½ tsp. sweet paprika

1 pinch cumin (optional)

75 g of stale bread (preferably with firm crumb, candeal type)

500ml water or meat broth

salt to taste

pieces of boletus to suit everyone's taste

Elaboration

This is a piece of cake and is done in a flash. Peel the garlic and slice it into not-too-thin pieces.

We cut the bread into thin slices, which will then be able to absorb the oil from the sofrito. If the bread is fresh, we must let the slices dry, cutting them a few hours before preparing the soup. Dried bread absorbs much more liquid than bread that is fresh.

Put the oil in a frying pan or saucepan and heat gently. Add the garlic slices and fry them until they start to brown, no more.

Then we add the paprika and stir it a few times. It should never be fried for more than a minute because it can become bitter when it burns.

We immediately add the bread slices and stir them with a wooden spoon so that they are covered in the peppery oil. Then we add the water/stock, add salt, cover and cook slowly until the bread becomes fluffy, at least 8-10 minutes, has absorbed enough stock and has become creamy; this is one of the secrets of garlic soup, that the bread is integrated.

We taste the seasoning and adjust if necessary. We serve immediately in clay bowls, which keep the heat better, and at the same time we add some pieces of boletus on top of each portion.

Boletus or Wild Mushrooms in Olive Oil

We had the hot soup with a good red wine. Nirvana. No one will be able to call you ordinary for serving a dignified garlic soup with some delicious boletus mushrooms , natural or preserved in oil , which are equally fine. And if we also serve the garlic soup as a shot, in small portions as an appetizer, none of your brothers-in-law will be able to blame you. At most he will die of envy for your level of nobility. Yeah.

NOTE: I recommend serving the soups in individual tureens, like the ones you can see here .