We are all very conscious of strengthening the immune system these days particularly as we head into colds and flu season. With this in mind, our recipe this month is a roasted garlic soup and we use our very popular beef bone broth to make this.

Ingredients
1 large head garlic
Olive oil, for cooking
1 large onion, sliced
1 sprig fresh thyme
1l Carol’s Stock Market Beef Bone Broth
1 bay leaf
180g crème fraîche or fresh cream
Salt & pepper

Serves
4-6

Method
Pre-heat oven to 180°C / 160°C fan assisted.
Cut the head of garlic in half horizontally. Place both halves, cut side up, on a large piece of tinfoil. Drizzle generously with olive oil then bring up edges of the tinfoil to enclose the garlic in a sealed parcel. Place the tinfoil parcel on a small baking tray then roast the garlic for 1 hour.

Once roasted, open the parcel and leave roasted garlic to cool enough to easily handle. 

Once cooled, squeeze out the roasted garlic cloves into the remains of olive oil, discard the skins. Set aside.

In a large pot set over medium heat, drizzle generously with olive oil. Once hot, add the onion and thyme. Gently cook until the onions are tender and translucent, stirring occasionally.

Add the roasted garlic and any remaining oil from roasting, the bone broth and bay leaf. Increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and leave to simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes.

Remove bay leaf and any thyme stalks then add the crème fraîche or fresh cream. Use a stick blender to purée until completely smooth. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed, then allow to heat up just until it starts to steam.

Serve while hot. You can garnish with shavings of parmesan cheese or a drizzle of cream or olive oil.