Garlic soup and harissa

Name: Garlic soup and harissa
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 3 celery sticks, finely diced; 4 medium shallots, finely chopped; 1 red pepper; 2 tbsp lemon juice; generous pinch of saffron threads; ¼ tsp cumin seeds; 1 litre good-quality vegetable stock; 2–3 tsp coarse sea salt; 4 bay leaves; ½ tsp coarse sea salt; ¼ tsp coriander seeds; ½ tbsp tomato purée; 2 medium–hot fresh red chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped; 4 tbsp roughly chopped parsley; 2 tbsp olive oil; ¼ tsp caraway seeds; 200 ml white wine; 1 tsp finely chopped thyme; Greek yoghurt (optional); 2 tsp chopped fresh root ginger; roughly chopped coriander; ½ tbsp olive oil; 1 small red onion, roughly chopped; 25 medium garlic cloves, finely sliced; 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 40 g butter

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Plenty

By Yotam Ottolenghi

Published 2010

About

This soup is sweetly delicious and relatively easy to prepare, if you don’t mind a bit of garlic peeling. The harissa adds work but you could substitute a good commercial variety. Still, this one makes a fantastic condiment to keep in your fridge and add to roasted aubergines, vegetable stews and many rice and couscous dishes.

Ingredients

4 medium shallots, finely chopped
3 celery sticks, finely diced
40 g butter

Gluten-free
Vegan
Soup

Method

First make the harissa. Preheat the grill to high, then grill the pepper for 15–20 minutes, or until blackened all over. Transfer to a bowl, cover it with cling film and allow to cool. Then peel the pepper and discard its seeds.

Place a frying pan on a low heat and lightly dry-roast the coriander, cumin and caraway seeds for 2 minutes. Remove them to a pestle and use a mortar to grind t