Pureed Potato Roasted Garlic and Sage Soup

Marc — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 21:17:31 +0000

With the arrival of winter weather — including the first snowfall of the season — also comes the arrival of soup season. With how delicious and warming they are, soups match perfectly with the colder temperatures. And what better way to use the garlic from my roasted garlic recipe than in this pureed potato roasted garlic and sage soup?

Now, I’ve slurped my fair share of liquid lunches, but let me tell you, this isn’t just a soup; it’s a creamy embrace in a bowl. You’ve got your potatoes, buttery and comforting, your garlic, roasted to sweet nuttiness, and your sage, with its aromatic depth.

It’s like the three musketeers of flavor decided to have a pool party and you’re invited.

So grab your bowls and a ladle and dive into this witty bowl of culinary genius. Your taste buds can thank me later.

Ingredients for Garlic and Sage Soup

To get started, we’ll need to gather our ingredients. The veggies, the liquids, and the seasonings. These will fully combine together when we blend the soup, but not before we get them cooked.

Veggies

Onion, garlic, and potatoes. These hearty veggies, especially the potatoes, make up the bulk of the non-liquid ingredients used here.

The garlic is roasted beforehand. The onions are sauteed in butter with some of the seasonings. The potatoes are peeled, cubed, and cooked in the soup until soft and blendable. I recommend using a yellow onion and large Yukon gold potatoes. But feel free to substitute other varieties if they’re what you have on hand.

Liquids

It’s a bit hard to make soup without any liquid. Though I’m sure there’s some recipe out there that does, that’s not for us today. And we’ll be doing liquids in two batches – one pre- and some post-blending.

Pre-blending we’ll be using stock. A good stock is a rich, comforting base that elevates everything else. And it isn’t actually that difficult to make your own chicken stock. If you’re going the vegetarian route, though, a vegetable stock will do the trick just as well.

Post-blending is all about adding creaminess. Literally, with some heavy cream and milk. These help add a smooth, luxurious texture that’ll have your taste buds doing the tango. We add these and cook on low heat to keep them from curdling. Just enough to get things cohesive.

Seasonings

Now comes the exciting part – infusing our roasted garlic and sage soup with layers of irresistible flavor.

Sage: First up is sage, the maestro of this herbal symphony. Its aromatic notes bring a delightful earthiness to the soup. As the sage melds with the creamy base, it creates a harmonious balance that elevates each spoonful.
Thyme: Enter thyme, another herbal virtuoso that contributes a fragrant undertone to our soup. Its subtle presence adds complexity to the other ingredients for a nuanced flavor profile.
Bay: Now, let’s introduce bay leaves—the unsung heroes of many savory dishes. These unassuming leaves bring a subtle yet distinct depth to the soup, enhancing its overall taste.
Salt and Pepper: The basic seasonings that enhance the flavor of almost anything.

The Garlic and Sage of it All

Let’s face it, there’s nothing quite like the aroma of roasted garlic wafting through the kitchen. A good soup is like a warm hug – especially in the winter. And when you pair that with sage leaves sizzling in butter, you’re in for a treat. So buckle up, because we’re about to take your senses on a culinary joyride with the dynamic duo of garlic and sage.

Roasted Garlic Flavor

This is where the recipe all started for me. I made a lot of roasted garlic when preparing my roasted garlic recipe. Roasting garlic changes it from pungent to sweet, sharp to mellow. It helps to coax out their deepest, richest essences.

Raw, it’s bold, assertive, and a little bit punchy, but give it some time in the oven and it softens

So, don’t rush this step. Let those cloves roast until they’re golden, caramelized, and tender so you can spread them like butter. Make the roasted garlic before making this recipe. It takes a little bit of time, but not a ton of effort on your own part – most of it is sitting in the oven.

Sage Leaves in Butter

Adding in the buttery sage comes from another recipe on the site – one of the most popular. My brown butter sage sauce inspired this addition. I highly recommend trying out that simple recipe if you haven’t before.

But back to this roasted garlic and sage soup, make sure to use fresh sage leaves.

I envisioned creating a brown butter sage sauce as the base, but it turned out a little different since I also included the onion when sauteeing the sage and it added enough moisture that it didn’t really brown the same way. But still added a ton of flavor.

Prepping the Potatoes

Potatoes are amazing. They’re versatile, they’re forgiving, and if you treat them just right, they can truly shine as the star of the show.

But to get them ready for showtime we’ll be peeling the potatoes. I think that leaving the peel on would lead to a grittier final soup. But if you want to give it a try, just be sure to scrub them well.

After peeling the potatoes, give them a little rinse in water.

Now start dicing the potatoes into about 1/2-inch cubes.

You don’t need to be exact but try to get similarly sized pieces. This will help them cook evenly in the next stage. So that all the pieces will be finished cooking when it comes time to blend. You’ll also be dicing up the onion before we start in on making the soup itself.

Making the Garlic and Sage Soup

With all of the ingredients prepped, it is time to finally start making the soup.

Brown Butter and Sage

Begin by melting the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add in the sage leaves and onion to begin sauteing. Stir it consistently to make sure it cooks evenly. The onion is cooked when it is mostly translucent – probably 3 to 5 minutes.

Add in the roasted garlic cloves and dried thyme. Stir it around and cook it for another minute or two to let the thyme bloom. Then add in the chopped potatoes, chicken or vegetable stock, and bay leaves.

Simmering

Turn the heat up to medium-high to let the soup warm up, stirring occasionally. Once it begins to bubble, turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

The goal of the simmering is to fully cook the potatoes and to meld and extract all of the flavors. So, keep stirring occasionally as it simmers so that nothing sticks or burns to the bottom of the pot. Then, as it gets close to the 30 minutes, start testing the potatoes with a fork to tell if they’re cooked. The fork should easily pierce the potato without much force or resistance.

Remember to try and test the largest piece you can find.

Blend Until Smooth

With the potatoes cooked, we’re ready to puree this soup to a smooth texture. Turn off the heat.

I recommend using an immersion blender, but a regular blender could be used as well. An immersion blender will make it so we can just blend it up in the pot. The regular blender will likely take batches and require a lot of transferring back and forth. So, not preferred in my book.

Blend on high until smooth. Not just no big chunks, but smooth. If you think it’s close then just sample it with a spoon and see how the texture feels. Mine took a fair bit of time blending and moving around the pot to make sure it was fully smooth. If you really wanted to, you could strain it with a very fine mesh strainer to get it as smooth as possible.

Finishing the Soup

After blending the soup, we’ll be adding in some special ingredients to make sure it’s velvety smooth.

Add Milk and Cream and Warm on Low

Gently pour in the heavy cream and milk. Stir thoroughly to make sure everything is well combined.

Suddenly everything feels a bit more luxurious.

After adding the cream and milk, we’ll warm it up a little to make sure the soup is fully cohesive. But we need to be careful because the cream could curdle if heated too hot too fast. So just heat it on low for about five minutes. It shouldn’t have lost too much heat while blending it off the heat, so this shouldn’t take too long.

Taste and Adjust

Always always always taste your food before thinking it is finished. There’s usually at least something that could be done to change or adjust and make sure it is perfect.

Have a small taste of the soup and think of both the flavor and the texture.

Does it need a little more salt or a little more cream? Maybe it is a little thick – add a little more stock or water. Once you’ve nailed it down, you’re ready to serve it up.

Serving the Soup

Let’s chat about what to pair with our herby concoction. A soup can be a side or a main dish – it all depends on how much of it you serve and what you serve on the side. Remember, it’s not just about flavor; we eat with our eyes too!

What to Serve with Garlic and Sage Soup

Soup and bread are like peas in a pod – a true match made in heaven. Use some bread to dip in the soup or sop up every last drop when you’ve finished the bowl. A crusty loaf of bread. Freshly baked sourdough, with all its tangy glory. Pure bliss.

Take the bread idea a step further and make yourself a grilled cheese to have for dipping. I know they’re typically paired with tomato soup, but trust me they work with other soups as well.

And for those who crave a bit of crunch, a side of roasted veggies wouldn’t go amiss. Think golden-brown parsnips or glazed carrots, their edges caramelized to perfection.

Or try a salad like any of the following:

Garnish the Roasted Garlic and Sage Soup

Garnish is mostly for show. But remember that the eyes are how you first take in the food, so it can really affect how we enjoy it. To garnish the soup, ladle it into the bowls that you’ll be serving. Then try any of the following:

A drizzle – Try drizzling a small bit of olive oil or heavy cream on top of the soup. Get fancy and give it a little swirl while you drizzle. Pour them down close to the top of the soup so that there isn’t much force and it stays on the surface. The drizzle helps to break up the monotony of color that soups can sometimes suffer from.

A dollop – Top it off with a little bit of sour cream or a dollop of prepared aioli (just make sure that the flavor pairs well with the potatoes, roasted garlic, and sage). Gently place a spoonful atop the soup for a fun presentation.

A sprinkling – Finally, sprinkle some chopped or whole fresh herbs, parmesan cheese, or bacon on top. Whole herbs will be for show and removed or eaten around. Try it with sage, parsley, or chives. And everything is enhanced with parmesan and bacon so… give that a spin if you want. You could even have garlic and sage soup with croutons on top for a nice crunchy texture.

Now, remember, while it’s easy to get carried away with the garnish, keep it classy. You don’t want to overshadow the star of the show – the soup itself. I hope you enjoy the soup and let it warm your home this winter!

How did yours turn out?

I’d love to hear when you try out this roasted garlic and sage soup! Take a pic of your food and share your success with me by adding it to your Instagram stories or feed, and tagging me @doyouroux, or by using #doyouroux.

Plus, leave a rating to let me know how you liked the recipe. It helps me out a lot to know how things worked out… or didn’t.