Romanian Roasted Garlic Soup

Romanian roasted garlic soup made with very simple ingredients…

This year, Natalia and I got invited on a press trip to visit Bucharest, Romania. It was our first time visiting Romania and as we’re big foodies we were very interested in trying their cuisine. We have tried so many amazing dishes, including stuffed vine leaves, stuffed cabbage leaves, mici with polenta, and this garlic soup. Natalia also wrote a wonderful post about the top 10 things you will love about Bucharest.

GARLIC SCARES THE EVIL SPIRITS

In Romania, garlic has been used for centuries to scare away the evil spirits. It is also a weapon used against vampires, as garlic has a strong smell that repels away the vampires. Romanians believed if they ate garlic every day, they will protect themselves from vampires but truth is it also protected their hearts.

As a part of Taste the garlic food tour organised by My Secret Romania during our visit to Bucharest, we went to a restaurant called Supapa and not only had lots of amazing garlic dishes (cooked with Romanian garlic!), but also learned about the magical practices and darker beliefs of vampires and evil spirits in Romania. It’s a part storytelling, a part food tasting event and it’s absolutely recommended. Seriously, it was my favourite part of the trip!

THE ROASTED GARLIC SOUP

One of the garlic dishes that we absolutely fell in love with during the event, was this roasted garlic soup. It’s made with lots of garlic, and when I say lots I mean LOTS of garlic! I used about 40 cloves for this recipe. You would expect a garlic soup to leave you smelling like garlic for at least a week after eating it considering how much garlic went into this, but it surprisingly does not stay with you. Reason is, this garlic here is roasted!

This soup is vegan and really simple. It’s made with lots of veg such as carrots, potatoes, onions and celery. And no spices are added, considering the strong taste that the garlic gives. All we added to this was a pinch of salt, a little bit of ground black pepper.

HOW TO ROAST GARLIC

Roasting garlic is very simple. All you have to do is cut the bottoms of the garlic heads. Unpeeled, place them in a baking tray on baking paper, and roast them for 20-25 minutes. You can test to see if the garlic is roasted properly by inserting the tip of knife in a garlic clove and see if the garlic is soft enough. Once the garlic is roasted, take it out of the oven and leave it to cool down.

Peeling the garlic is the most complicated part of the roasted garlic soup recipe. Some cloves will come out easily, will other will resist. But remember, they’re just testing your patience (and the recipe is totally worth it)! And don’t worry about the smell staying on your hands, because it will not.

HOW TO MAKE ROASTED GARLIC SOUP

Since you already have the garlic roasted, all you need to do is dice the vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions and celery) and literally just cook the veg in boiling water until it’s soft. Add the roasted garlic cloves, and a knob of vegan butter to the soup. Using a blender or a food processor blend the soup until it’s smooth. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Drizzle some olive oil over the soup, and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve the soup with toasted freshly baked bread.

During the cold winter days, I like to make this soup as garlic is a natural antibiotic that can kill so many infections. Flu is everywhere around us these days, so if you want to stay healthy you better go and make yourself some roasted garlic soup!

Roasted Garlic Soup

Vegan Romanian roasted garlic soup made with carrots, onions, celery and potatoes.

5 from 5 votes

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: Romanian

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 83kcal

Ingredients

• 5 garlic heads
• 2 carrots
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 potato
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 litre water
• 1 tbsp vegan butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• olive oil
• 1 tsp parsley chopped

Instructions

• To roast the garlic heads, cut the bottom of the heads to expose them a little.
  
• Then unpeeled, put the garlic heads in a tray and roast on a baking sheet at 180c for 20-25 minutes.
  
• Peel and dice all the remaining vegetables, place in a pot with boiling water and cover. Cook for 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
  
• When the garlic is ready, remove from oven and let it cool down.
  
• Peel off the garlic cloves. While some garlic cloves will come out easily, others will resist. The roasted garlic cloves will be soft.
  
• After the vegetables are cooked and the garlic is peeled, put them all in a blender (vegetables first and then the garlic) along with butter.
  
• Blend soup until it's silky and smooth.
  
• divide the soup in bowls, sprinkle with a little bit of olive oil and parsley. Serve with toasted bread.
  

Nutrition

Calories: 83kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 2g | Sodium: 357mg | Potassium: 424mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 106.4% | Vitamin C: 14.2% | Calcium: 4.7% | Iron: 10.8%

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