How to Cook Almond Soup with Garlic and Bread

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 5 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients needed to make Almond Soup with Garlic and Bread:

• 1 large ciabatta loaf
• 150 gm whole almonds, blanched and toasted in an oven
• 1 white onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 large garlic bulbs, broken up and unpeeled
• 3 oranges, peeled and segmented
• Handful of fresh mint, leaves picked
• Handful of fresh cilantro, leaves picked
• 2 tbsp sherry
• 285 ml single cream
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 litre chicken broth
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cooking instructions for Almond Soup with Garlic and Bread:

• Warm up your oven to 350 degrees F.
• Scatter the garlic cloves across a baking sheet and roast in the hot oven for about 30 minutes or until they appear mushy on touch.
• Take them out of the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.
• Squeeze out their golden pulp into a small bowl and set aside; get rid of the garlic skins.
• Meanwhile, heat 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a large pot and throw in the chopped onions.
• Sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until they soften and turn lucid.
• Whisk in the cream, followed by the broth and continue to cook the mixture until it starts boiling.
• Reduce it to a simmer and continue to do so for next 10 minutes.
• Whisk the sweet pulp of the garlic into the simmering soup until well combined.
• Rip off the crusts from the ciabatta loaf and tear it into smaller, coarse pieces.
• Toss them into the soup and stir them into the mixture, along with a splash of sherry.
• Simmer the soup further for another 5 minutes and pour it into your food processor.
• Dump the toasted almonds into it and pulse them all together into a smooth puree.
• Adjust the seasonings and ladle it into serving bowls.
• Place orange segments on top of each serving and tear the fresh herbs over them.
• Finish it off with a generous lashing of olive oil and serve hot.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons