Potato and roasted garlic soup w/wheat berry watercress sala

8 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 larges Heads garlic; unpeeled
2 tablespoons Olive oil
2 mediums Onions; chopped
4 pounds Boiling potatoes; preferably Yukon gold or yellow finn
8 cups Water
2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
½ cup Scallion puree or scallion oil; see recipe
6 cups Water
1 cup Cooked wheatberries; cooked
1 teaspoon Salt
1 bunch Watercress
4 Belgian endives
¼ cup Scallion puree; garnish
Crusty bread; accompaniment

Directions

FOR SOUP

FOR SALAD

Full title: Potato And Roasted Garlic Soup With Wheat Berry, Watercress, And Endive Salad. This sophisticated soup and salad combination makes a cozy winter lunch for friends.

PREP 1 bunch watercress: discard coarse stems, wash well and spin dry (about 3 cups). 4 Belgian endives, separate leaves and cut crosswise into ½-inch-thick slices

1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees.

2. Make soup: On a flat surface smash garlic heads, root ends up, with palm of hand to break up cloves, leaving peels intact. Put garlic on a sheet of foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle garlic with salt and pepper to taste and wrap tightly in foil. Bake garlic in middle of oven 40 minutes, or until very tender. Unwrap garlic carefully and let stand until cool enough to handle. In a bowl squeeze roasted garlic out of cloves by squeezing one end, discarding skin.

3. In a kettle cook onions in remaining tablespoon oil over moderate heat until softened. Peel and cut potatoes into ½-inch pieces and add to kettle with water. Bring water to a simmer and cook potatoes, covered, stirring occasionally, until very tender, about 20 minutes.

4. Transfer half of potatoes with cooking liquid to a bowl and in a blender, in batches, puree with garlic until smooth. Transfer mixture as pureed to kettle, stirring, and season soup with salt and pepper.

Note: Soup may be made 1 day ahead, cooled completely, and chilled, covered.

5. Make salad: In a large bowl whisk together vinegar, scallion puree, and salt and pepper to taste.

6. In a saucepan bring water with wheat berries and salt to a gentle boil.

Cook wheat berries, uncovered, adding more water if necessary, 1¼ hours, or until just tender. Drain wheat berries in a sieve and add to vinegar mixture, tossing to combine well. Let mixture cool. Wheat berry mixture may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring wheat berry mixture to room temperature before proceeding.

7. In a kettle heat soup over moderate heat, stirring, until hot. In a large bowl toss watercress and endives with wheat berry mixture and season with salt and pepper. Pour soup into 8 serving bowls and garnish each with ½ tablespoon scallion puree. Serve soup and salad with bread.

EACH: 241 cals, 4g fat (15%) using the "lowfat alternative" scallion puree.

MAKE AHEAD: Prepare the Scallion Puree: Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. INGREDIENTS: ½ cup olive oil; 2 cups chopped scallion greens (about 1 bunch), patted dry. DIRECTIONS: In a saucepan heat ¼ cup oil over moderate heat and cook scallions just until tender and bright green in color (do not let brown). In a blender puree scallion mixture with remaining ¼ cup oil until smooth. Season scallion puree with salt and pepper and let cool. Makes about ¾ cup. LOWFAT ALTERNATIVE: blanch the scallions for up to 2 minutes or until bright green. Shock in ice water.

Drain well. Puree with vegetable broth as needed. (Be patient) -pat Recipe by: Gourmet, Jan 1996

Posted to EAT-LF Digest by PatHanneman <kitpath@...> on Mar 05, 1999, converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.

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