Garlic-Almond Soup with Basil-Almond Pesto
One of my favorite things about blogging is you. I love your comments, your questions, your stories, your encouragement, and I love it when you share recipes with me.
You’re just plain awesome.
One of my newly found foodie friends, Rebecca, shared a recipe with me on Facebook one day for garlic soup with pesto. I’ve never made garlic soup, despite my husband’s fondness for garlic. I figured it was about dang time.
Plus, a recipe that calls for a whole bulb of chopped garlic (that isn’t roasted) was bound to get my attention.
After eating it you’re bound to get a lot of attention, although, not necessarily the good kind. It may chase away the sickies, too, since garlic is a natural antimicrobial.
I replaced some of the potato in the original recipe with a cup of almonds, and buzzed it all up in my blender. The result was so thick and creamy! We could hardly believe the soup was gluten and dairy free oops, I mean dairy free if you swap the butter for coconut or grapeseed oil and leave the Parm out of the pesto. Pardon me, but I seem to be losing my mind. (Thanks for the correction, Rebecca!)
The pesto is what makes it shine, though, so don’t get lazy and leave it out. You could also use store-bought pesto if you don’t want to make it from scratch. (See? I compromise with you. Sometimes.)
Garlic-Almond Soup with Basil-Almond Pesto
Yield: Serves 6
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: About 50 minutes
Ingredients:
For the soup:
4 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large shallot, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 bulb of garlic (not a clove, but the whole bulb), peeled and chopped
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper
1 medium russet potato (or 2-3 red potatoes)
1 cup whole almonds
1 quart chicken or vegetable stockFor the pesto:
3 cups basil leaves
1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds
2 cloves garlic, halved
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
about 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, more if necessaryDirections:
Start the soup by melting the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion, shallot, celery, garlic, and bay leaf and cook gently (don't let it brown) until soft, about 10 minutes. Discard bay leaf, season with salt and pepper and add potato, stock, and almonds. Simmer until potato is soft (about 10-15 minutes).
While the soup is cooking, make the pesto. Place the basil, almonds, and garlic in your food processor and pulse until uniformly chopped, scraping the sides, if necessary. Add parmesan cheese; pulse a couple of times to mix. While the processor is running, add the olive oil in a steady stream. You only need enough oil to bring the mixture together into a paste, so 1/4 cup should do it.
When the soup is finished, use an immersion blender (or regular blender) to blend it as smooth as you can get it, then pass through a coarse strainer. If you have a "power blender" like a Vita-Mix or a Blendtec, simply blend in batches until it's smooth and return soup to the pot. No need for straining.
If the soup is too thick to your liking, add a bit more chicken stock (if you have it) or water. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with a dollop of pesto.
Nat's Note: The amount of garlic in the soup was OK with my little ones, but the raw garlic in the pesto was a bit strong for them, so I only added a little to their soup. Otherwise they loved it!
Adapted from Rebecca Sinkhorn, who adapted and compiled it from multiple sources
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Cassie | Bake Your Day — January 28, 2013 @ 6:06 am
I’m all about that dollop of pesto in this soup – amazing recipe, Natalie!
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Liz @ The Lemon Bowl — January 28, 2013 @ 7:30 am
What an incredible recipe – this sounds amazing!!
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Erika @ The Hopeless Housewife — January 28, 2013 @ 9:58 am
This sounds so amazing!
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Meghan — January 28, 2013 @ 10:05 am
Eee! Those are some of my favorite flavors! I love it!
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Meghan replied: — January 31st, 2013 @ 7:20 am
Made this for dinner last night. Loved it. It was really tasty! I used spinach and arugula in the pesto instead of basil, because I had those in my kitchen already, but kept everything else the same. Thanks!
Jen — January 28, 2013 @ 11:07 am
I completely agree! It is amazing what a supportive and amazing group of people food bloggers are!
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Joanne — January 28, 2013 @ 6:03 pm
All that garlic is sending shivers down my spine! In a good way!
And it’s so true…the blogging community is the BEST.
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Becca — January 28, 2013 @ 6:38 pm
Actually, if you are using real butter, this soup is not dairy free. There are some dairy free options out there, mostly they are soy based margarine.
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Becca replied: — January 28th, 2013 @ 6:46 pm
Also the parmesan cheese in the pesto is a dairy product as well.
Natalie Perry replied: — January 28th, 2013 @ 6:59 pm
Oh, wow, do I stand corrected. Thanks for calling me out! I tend to forget that butter is technically dairy. And I wasn’t even thinking of the pesto. *embarrassed*
Gwen @SimplyHealthyFamily — January 29, 2013 @ 11:19 am
Oh my! I am garlic’s BIGGEST fan but a whole clove raw?!! I can’t wait to see if I’m up for the challenge!
teehee, I’ve made similar errr typos ;) It’s nice tho when someone actually reads your post and takes the time to constructively point out your mistakes I think.
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Natalie Perry replied: — January 29th, 2013 @ 12:35 pm
Well, the whole bulb was chopped and cooked in the soup. Luckily that toned it down. The pesto was raw and kind of strong for my Littles. You would really like this!
Natalie Perry replied: — January 29th, 2013 @ 12:36 pm
And yes, I agree. I like it when people point out my mistakes for that very reason! Someone’s listening! ;)
Anna @ Cuparoons — January 30, 2013 @ 8:28 pm
Pinned this! Love garlic and so does my husband. Definately a must try!
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Loretta | A Finn In The Kitchen — January 31, 2013 @ 3:25 pm
Totally my kind of recipe! I (try to) eat one raw clove of garlic every night. My poor, poor hubby…
I’m totally pinning this!
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Stephie @ Eat Your Heart Out — February 1, 2013 @ 7:37 pm
Shoot, I don’t think I’d care about being a stinker after eating this, it sounds too amazing to pass up!
Besides, Rachael Ray is always babbling about two people eating garlic cancel each other out, or some such nonsense, so let’s go with that, shall we? ;-)
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Julie — February 1, 2013 @ 10:02 pm
Do the almonds need to be blanched or are the skins ok?
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Natalie Perry replied: — February 1st, 2013 @ 10:19 pm
Nah, no need. I guess technically they’re blanched in the soup, but the skins can be blended up. I quite like the little brown flecks, but you can surely use blanched almonds if you like.
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Claire L — February 14, 2013 @ 6:09 am
Holy cow, this looks delicious! I love the idea of mixing pesto into the soup. I’ll put pesto on just about anything, but it hadn’t occurred to me to put it in soup yet. Brilliant! We make pesto in the summer and keep it in the freezer for the winter, so this should be super easy to throw together. Love it!
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Natalie Perry replied: — February 14th, 2013 @ 9:39 pm
I freeze my pesto, too! I love remembering it’s in the fridge. It’s like the dinner fairy came by to help. :)