The ingredients for a terrific garlic soup, or at least the ingredients we had on hand. We had no green onions or fresh cilantro, and we had no baguette but did have some pretzel rolls. I pulled the rolls into smaller pieces than shown here before adding to the soup, and removed most of the brown crust. We finished most of the six servings before I realized I had forgotten to add the red pepper flakes.
                                 Mark Guydish | Times Leader

The ingredients for a terrific garlic soup, or at least the ingredients we had on hand. We had no green onions or fresh cilantro, and we had no baguette but did have some pretzel rolls. I pulled the rolls into smaller pieces than shown here before adding to the soup, and removed most of the brown crust. We finished most of the six servings before I realized I had forgotten to add the red pepper flakes.

Mark Guydish | Times Leader

Savory soup seems to be good for what ails you

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<p>Dry cilantro added a little color, making up for the lack of fresh stuff and green onions, and I substituted Parmigiano Reggiano for the queso anejo, but this garlic-loving couple lapped up Emeril Lagasse’s pan-roasted Latin-style garlic soup.</p>
                                 <p>Mark Guydish | Times Leader</p>

Dry cilantro added a little color, making up for the lack of fresh stuff and green onions, and I substituted Parmigiano Reggiano for the queso anejo, but this garlic-loving couple lapped up Emeril Lagasse’s pan-roasted Latin-style garlic soup.

Mark Guydish | Times Leader

<p>Mark Guydish</p>
                                <p>Times Leader Test Kitchen</p>

Mark Guydish

Times Leader Test Kitchen

MT and I were both feeling a bit under the weather one recent day so I looked to the king of herbs we both love — and MT is pretty convinced serves as cure all: Garlic. I remembered a garlic soup recipe somewhere in my past and hunted through my pile of old printouts from ideas I found online years ago.

I thought I had a concoction that called for 50 garlic cloves, which sounds crazy but it doesn’t matter, I couldn’t find that. I found this instead, an Emeril Lagasse version. It calls for 1/3 cup minced or crushed garlic, a bit less than 50 cloves, I think, though I didn’t count. I minced a bulb and a few loose cloves we had around the kitchen, decided that didn’t look like enough, and minced another bulb.

Regular readers know MT and I pretty much believe there’s no such thing as too much garlic, and that sure held true this time. This is supposed to make six servings, but among MT, me and her mom all but one bowlful disappeared, and I could have finished that if I really put my mind to it. It made for a nice leftover, though.

And it’s pretty easy. Peeling all that garlic can take a little time, but there are ways to make that a fairly simple task, especially since you’re either mincing it or running it through a crusher. Slapping a clove with the broad side of a knife loosens the skin pretty thoroughly, for one. And you can buy cloves already peeled, though I’ve never done that. It sounds less fresh.

A few other things from my foray into this wonderful world of garlic:

I got the red pepper out of the cabinet, but completely forgot to add it. Putting in more garlic than called for may have made that omission work well, letting the garlic really shine.

I had a can of chicken stock but needed six more cups and used water and those little cubes we keep around because they take up little space. It worked, but the final soup did taste a bit salty to both of us. Next time I make it I’ll get some low-sodium broth from the store (assuming we don’t have a chicken carcass to make some homemade stock).

I had no green onions, so I didn’t add them. I had no fresh cilantro, so I sprinkled a little of the dry stuff on top. And we don’t keep queso anejo, but there’s always some parm in our fridge, and in this case it was reggiano, a fine substitute.

And lastly, I had no baguette. It’s optional anyway, as a thickener, but by coincidence MT had bought some pretzel rolls and I ripped up one of them, pulling most of the brown crust off.

Dobru Chut!

Charlotte’s Pan-Roasted Latin Style Garlic Soup (Emeril Lagasse)

¼ cup virgin or extra-virgin olive oil

⅓ cup pressed or minced garlic

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste

3 quarts chicken stock

1 (2-inch) piece baguette, torn into small pieces

4 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

¼ to ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 large egg yolks

6 tablespoons or finely grated queso anejo cheese, for garnish (Parmesan is a good substitute)

Cilantro sprigs for garnish

In a heavy, 4-quart saucepan, heat the oil over low heat. Add the garlic and red pepper and sauté for 1 minute just until soft and fragrant. Take care not to scorch the garlic, as this will produce a bitter flavor

Add the chicken stock, increase the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 1-1/2 hours, or until the garlic flavor has sweetened and mellowed. If at the end of simmering, too much liquid has evaporated, add enough water to bring the level up to at least 8 cups. Towards the end of the cooking time, whisk in the little pieces of bread for thickening, if using (the egg will also thicken the soup, so the bread step is optional).

Add the green onions and cilantro and continue to simmer until the green onions have wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat. Place the egg yolks in a small bowl and, whisking constantly, slowly add ¼ cup of the hot broth. Continue whisking the egg mixture while slowly pouring ¾ cup more of the hot broth into it. Whisk the entire egg mixture slowly into the hot soup, until fully incorporated.

Ladle the soup into six bowls garnish each bowl with1 tablespoon of cheese and a cilantro sprig.

Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish