Roast Onion And Garlic Soup With Chorizo, Potato And Lentils

The Larder Diaries.







So, the ongoing tale of Haddock and her larder………….


I thought today my exploits of no shopping were to be brought to a full stop: I reckoned that I was out of onions. Disaster!


However, after a quick rifle around in the summer kitchen, I found quite a few onions in good order, so my plan was back on.


My inspiration for this soup came from a memorable meal at Restaurante Taxidermista in the Barrí Gótic in Barcelona. It is a stunning setting for a restaurant, which straddles one side of the Placa Reial in the old quarter.


I ordered soup and was curious to find what I was served:


It was a light pumpkin soup – almost a velouté really, but prior to serving, the waitress patiently assembled an assortment of delights in the base of my soup plate – braised shitake mushrooms, home made ravioli and some dainty triangles of roasted pumpkin. The resultant feast was a meal in a bowl, and I was hard pushed to get through my next course.


It spawned an idea that to “big” a soup up, it can become an entire, nourishing meal – I have poached chicken and braised whole cabbage leaves and served it with a lightly flavoured chicken broth, and I have simply added rice or pasta into the bowl of a soup I am serving.


The combinations are endless and are all well received.


I would advise one word of caution though: Your soup does need to be light and quite thin, as you will end up with too much going on in the bowl. Avoid cream unless you fancy a last minute swirl at the end for good looks – the same goes for any dairy – cheese, yoghurt, and the like.


Through fear of sounding pretentious, I would advise you to “de-construct” your favourite soup, limit it to key ingredients for the liquid, and then incorporate the other ingredients as a garnish for maximum taste and presentation.


So, after the build up, here’s the recipe:





INGREDIENTS

  1. SOUP BASE


    2KG OF ASSORTED ONIONS


    2 HEADS OF GARLIC


    1 LITRE OF CHICKEN STOCK


    SALT AND PEPPER (NO SALT IF IT IS A COMMERCIAL STOCK BASE OR CUBE)


    2 TABLESPOONS OF FRUITY OLIVE OIL.


    SOME CHOPPED FRESH HERBS – PARSLEY OR WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO HAND (I used tarragon as it accentuates the onion’s sweetness).




  2. GARNISH


    HALF A CIRCLE OF CHORIZO SAUSAGE – DULCE OR PICANTE – SLICED THINLY AND GENTLY FRIED FOR ABOUT 30 SECONDS ON EACH SIDE.


    ONE REASONABLE SIZED POTATO PER SERVING (this will serve 4 easily with seconds for the hungry) – COOKED WHOLE AND THEN PEELED. (If you can’t be bothered, cook as normal, but keep the pieces intact – you don’t want mush or mash)


    HALF A CUP OF LENTILS(NOT RED), SOAKED AND COOKED UNTIL TENDER





    METHOD

  3. Bake the onions and the garlic, whole and unpeeled, in a hot oven – 200 degrees c for about an hour – less if the onions are small.

  4. Allow the onions and garlic to cool slightly, then squeeze the contents of each bulb out into a bowl. this is easier if you snip the top off the onions with a scissors and peel off the outer papery layer of the garlic

  5. Blend with a hand blender or pop in the food processor and blend until smooth with the warm stock and olive oil.

  6. Season to taste.

  7. Add chopped fresh herbs.





    To Serve:


    Place some of the potatoes, cut into hearty chunks, the lentils and pieces of chorizo in the centre of a soup plate.


    Sprinkle with some of the fresh herbs.


    Pour over the soup mixture and serve with some good crusty bread.

Sounds good!