Hungarian Garlic Soup

Known as Foghagymás Leves, this recipe is an old favorite of mine because it’s warm and flavorful, and most of all because it reminds me of my grandmother. Like much of home cooking, I am not sure you could ever order this in a Hungarian restaurant, so here is the recipe for you to enjoy.

                                                      Ingredients

2 whole heads of garlic

1 large onion

¼ cup of olive oil

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp paprika

1 gallon of Swanson’s chicken stock or broth

½ package of linguine

Start by peeling the garlic – it needs to be fresh garlic or the taste will not come through. Once peeled, mince them finely and set them aside.

Next, make the “rántás” – the basis for all Hungarian stews and savory soups.  Rántás” is finely minced onion, slowly sautéed on a low flame with 3 – 4 tbsp of olive oil. The French and foodies know this as "roux." 

Once the onions are ready, raise the flame, sprinkle in the paprika and mix it up so that the paprika gets toasted to bring out the flavor. Then, sprinkle in the flour (hand sifting with a wire mesh strainer works great) and mix it very well with the spatula. It comes out better if you first mix the flour into a runny paste with a little water and a hand blender and then pour that mixture into the sauteed onions and paprika to finish the rántás. The correct consistency of rántás is thick and pasty, and it should be reddish-orange in color.

At that point, add the minced garlic and lower the flame, stirring occasionally as it cooks slowly for about 10 – 15 minutes.  Once the garlic is soft and transparent, then add in the chicken broth and bring it to a boil.

Once boiling, break the linguine into thirds (so each piece is about 2 inches long) and add them to the pot. Lower the flame and cover the pot – let it slowly boil for 10 minutes or so until the linguine is cooked through. The finished soup has a bisque-like pinkish color.

Serve hot to warm up even the coldest nights.  Jó étvágyat!  Enjoy!