The Ghanaian Journal

Henrie Geyser

Can you imagine what life would be like without garlic — bland food and with lots of Dracula’s running wild.

No doubt there will be some celebrations (I have a good friend from Liverpool who swears garlic is a curse, the worse thing nature has ever produced).

But by far, the majority of people (even the rather conservative English), enjoy the taste and flavour of garlic, whether it’s in sauces, with pasta or added to meat for extra flavour.

There are extremes, of course. I remember years ago an elderly French lady telling me that she use three whole heads of garlic and an entire bottle of red wine to make the famous dish of coq au vin.

Even self-confessed garlic addicts at times draw the line at what looks like an ‘overdose’ of garlic, but it must be remembered that there is a big difference between raw and cooked garlic.

The flavour of cooked garlic is totally different, much sweeter, much smoother and more aromatic as opposed to the harsh and sharp bite of fresh, raw garlic.

So, when you see that you should use two heads of garlic for this dish, fear not, because it’s quite delicious and actually very quick and easy to make.

For the garlic soup you need

# 2 whole heads of garlic, separated, but not peeled

# 1 litre of water

# A good pinch of thyme, sage, Rosemary & parsley
# 2 tablespoons olive oil

# 50g butter

# 25g plain flour

# 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder

# 2 cups of shell pasta, cooked until ‘al dente’ or just done
— drained, covered and set aside

# 1 heaped tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

# Salt and black pepper

Instructions:

Pour the water into a saucepan and bring to the boil.

Add the garlic, boil for one minute.

Drain the liquid, let the garlic cool, then peel them.

Return the peeled garlic to the water and add the thyme, sage, Rosemary, parsley and a pinch of salt and black pepper. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain the liquid then press the juice out of the garlic through a strong sieve with the back of a wooden spoon. Discard the left-over garlic.

In a clean saucepan melt the butter and add the flour and turmeric and stir for two minutes over medium heat.

Then slowly add the soup liquid, stirring all the time until smooth and thickened, then let it simmer for five minutes, before adding the pasta shells to the soup and heat through.

Add salt and pepper to taste and serve in hot soup bowls adding a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and half a tablespoon of olive oil to each bowl.