Roasted Garlic and Onion Soup

This delectable, fragrant soup will bring smiles of satisfaction to onion soup, garlic, and beer aficionados everywhere. The slightly nutty, sweet flavor of the brown ale gives the soup a whole new dimension!

 
Tools: Small baking dish, two large saucepans
Preparation time: About 25 minutes
Cooking time: About 90 minutes
 
3 large heads garlic 1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil 1 ½ teaspoons thyme or your favorite herb
4 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour
4 large yellow onions, thinly sliced 5 cups beef or vegetable broth, hot
2 large shallots, thinly sliced (optional) 1 bottle brown ale
1 tablespoon sugar croutons and fresh grated cheese (fontanel, kaseri, or Parmesan)
 
  1. Cut the tip end off each head of garlic to expose cloves. Drizzle each cut end with ½ teaspoon olive oil. Place on a baking dish and bake in a 275° oven for 45 minutes or until very soft. Cool and then pop cloves out of their papery skins.
  2. In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium heat. Add sliced onions and shallots, cooking until translucent. Add sugar and salt, continuing to cook until mixture is caramel-gold. Heat broth in a separate saucepan.
  3. Sprinkle herbs and flour over onions, stirring well. Cook 3 minutes. Stirring constantly, pour the hot broth over the onion mixture.
  4. Mash roasted garlic with a fork. Add garlic and ale to soup and simmer for 30 minutes.
  5. Serve in heat-proof bowls. Ladle in soup and top with croutons and a generous sprinkling of cheese.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Tip: You can roast additional heads of garlic for future use: Simply freeze the unpeeled heads in a well-sealed container.