Wild garlic soup with bacon-fat potatoes and sour cream
Ingredients
- 500g/1lb 2oz onions, thinly sliced
- 400g/14oz wild garlic, plus 25g/1oz wild garlic stalks
- 1 fresh thyme sprig
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú garlic bulbs, unpeeled
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú butter
- 150²µ/5½´Ç³ú potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced
- 25g/1oz double cream
- salt
For the bacon-fat potatoes and crispy skin
- olive oil, for frying
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú smoked pancetta lardons
- 1 small waxy potato, cut into 1cm/½in cubes, skin roughly chopped
- 1 fresh thyme sprig
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- knob of butter
To serve
- 50ml/2fl oz sour cream
- wild garlic oil, optional
- handful small wild garlic leaves
Method
Put 400g/14oz onions, 400g/14oz wild garlic and the thyme in a large saucepan with 800ml/1½ pints water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 minutes, remove from the heat, cover and leave to infuse for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Wrap the garlic bulbs in kitchen foil and roast for 30–40 minutes, or until softened. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic flesh into a bowl and set aside.
For the bacon-fat potatoes, heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the pancetta, potato cubes, thyme and crushed garlic for 3–6 minutes, or until golden-brown and crispy. Remove from the heat, drain on kitchen paper and set aside.
For the crispy skin, melt the butter in a small saucepan and pour over the potato skin. Season with salt. Fill a small heavy-bottomed saucepan one-third full with oil. Heat to 180C (a cube of bread should turn brown in 1 minute when dropped in.) CAUTION: Hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended. Deep-fry the potato skin until crispy, then remove with a slotted spoon and leave to drain on kitchen paper.
For the soup, melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat and cook the remaining 100g/3½oz onions for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the potato slices and roasted garlic and cook without colouring until the potato is soft.
In a separate saucepan, heat the double cream with the wild garlic stock, then pour onto the onion and sliced potato mixture. Add the remaining wild garlic stalks and bring to the boil. Blend the soup in a blender, strain through a sieve back into the pan and season with salt.
To serve, place a spoonful of sour cream into the middle of each of four shallow bowls, top with wild garlic oil, if using, then the bacon-fat potatoes, crispy skins and wild garlic leaves and drizzle the soup around the edges of the bowls.