The only reason why I named this soup ‘Provençale’ is because of the fact that it contains quite a lot of garlic. The Provence region in France uses garlic with just about everything. Either you like garlic or you don’t. There seems to be no in between.

In Sweden, it increased in popularity after the Second World War and is now commonly used in many dishes.It wasn’t until the 1960s that I discovered this amazing herb. My father couldn’t stand the smell of it so my mother never used garlic in her cooking.

It is said that my ancestors, the Vikings, took healthy supplies of garlic with them on their voyages. They did not write any cookbooks, so I don’t know if it’s true or not. The Viking women might have used garlic in their cooking, but they did not have potatoes, that’s for sure.

This is a good potato soup recipe. Few ingredients, but good flavor, thanks to the roasted garlic.

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 servings

1 head garlic

olive oil

4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into smaller chunks

1 onion, peeled and cut into smaller chunks

1 liter of chicken broth (4.2 cups)

100 ml milk

2-3 tablespoons concentrated chicken stock

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

METHOD:

* Preheat oven to 175°C (=347°F)

* Slice off the upper part of the garlic head to expose the cloves.

* Place the unpeeled garlic on a piece of aluminium foil.

* Drizzle with olive oil.

* Fold the packet up, and place it in a small ovenproof dish.

* Bake in the middle of the oven until garlic is soft, approx. 50 minutes.

* Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and onion and cut into chunks.

* Bring chicken stock to boil, add potato- and onion chunks.

* Simmer until the potatoes are soft.

* Allow the garlic to cool so you can handle it without burning yourself.

* Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins and add to soup.

* Use a stick blender to purée the soup.

* Stir in milk, cook over low heat until thoroughly heated.

* Season to taste with black pepper and concentrated chicken stock.

* Remove from heat, and stir in finely chopped parsley.

If you don’t like the consistency of pureed soups, serve this soup with small bouquets of cooked broccoli.

Source: My Recipes