Sopa de Ajo 2.0

So, James came down with a whopper of a cold over the week-end. Come Monday it was still whopping, so I decided to go old school and make him some of Lito's (my grandfather onthe Spanish side) Sopa de Ajo (garlic soup) except that I didn't have a recipe. I did, however, remember it being a free-for-all of garlic, chicken broth and whatever was lurking about the fridge. That memory, plus a nod to chinese egg drop soup, resulted in my old-school-modernized adaptation, which I am calling "Sopa de Ajo 2.0". While it didn't end up like my Lito's (no egg drops there, gracias), this garlic soup was still yummy and filling and delicious, with the added benefit of being quick and easy enough to make for supper after getting home at 7:30pm. 

And now, the recipe for "Sopa de Ajo 2.0."

Ingredients:

- 4-5 cups of good chicken broth or homemade stock (you're going to taste it, so make sure it's one you like). You can use beef too, but consider upping the ratio of garlic to stock by one.

- Fresh garlic. 1-2 cloves per cup of broth, sliced thinly

- 1 Sprig of rosemary or thyme

- Salt 

-Pepper

- 2-3 eggs roughly beaten

- I had some butter/garlic puree left over from the souffle so I included that. If you don't happen to have that puree just hanging about, you can use a sliver of butter for a creamy, round taste. Omit if you don't want a creamy, round taste :)

Process:

1. Put stock and rosemary sprig into a small stockpot and bring to a rolling boil on Med. High.

2. Once the stock is boiling, remove the rosemary and discard. Add the garlic puree / sliver of butter and all of the sliced garlic to the broth and cook on med/high heat for about 5 minutes or until the garlic is tender (it should be soft and nutty tasting without the garlic bite).

3. Turn heat to Med. Low until soup is just simmering. Add salt and pepper to taste (careful with the salt if you're not using low sodium broth - it can get way too salty super easily).

4. Stirring very gently with a fork, slowly drizzle in the beaten eggs. Let sit for 1-2 minutes. Heat should still be on low at this point (if the soup isn't hot enough, the eggs will disperse instead of forming solid ribbons).

5. Gently break up ribbons of egg to preferred size and serve immediately.

Variations:

-Omit the eggs entirely for a pure garlic soup.

-Instead of egg drop ribbons, poach two eggs in the simmering soup. When serving, scoop the poached eggs into the bowls first and then cover them up with soup. Yummers.

-We ate this soup with buttered dark toast, but you can serve toast right into the bowl. Toast a slice of the hearty bread of your choice (any will do), drizzle a little olive oil over the top and place it at the bottom of the soup bowl. Then ladle soup over it. The bread will soften a bit and give the soup some serious heartiness. Also very yummers.