Have you ever had garlic soup? I only learned of its existence a few months ago and ever since then I have been hooked! Oh em gee, it is so delicious.

You know when something is so good, you barely chew? That is this soup for me. Only unlike Kraft Dinner you don’t choke on it. I make this soup at least once every two weeks. At least!!! It is my go-to soup; amazingly easy and fast. It comes together quickly and effortlessly. It has beautiful flavor and texture, it’s rich and nourishing. Need I say more?

The recipe I use is a mélange of about 5 different recipes I saw other fellow foodie bloggers blogging about. The idea of garlic soup is just so intriguing! Who doesn’t like garlic?? And we all know I love soup… clearly a good combo! I really can’t tell you enough about how wonderful this soup is. It could change your life. I think it’s safe to say it has had an impact on mine.

When I first started to make this recipe I would use cloves of garlic but it is hard to come by bulbs of garlic that are grown in Canada, or more importantly that are not grown in China. I have developed a Chinese Garlic phobia; I know, add it to the list. Anyway, I found a small jar at the grocery store of chopped garlic (See image below) which I would usually be against but it is grown in Ontario! Woot woot. It can sometimes be found in the refrigerators near the salad section and I have also found it on the shelf in one of the food isles. I forget which one, sorry. I really like using it since it is chopped very finely and therefore allows you to use a good amount of garlic in your soup without getting giant pieces in your mouth during the eating process since some of us need to work on our knife skills.

I usually only make this recipe for myself, but since I want others to try making it who fee more than one on a regular basis I have tried to develop a recipe I feel would work well for two people. If you want to make this for one, just prepare two eggs and one square of noodles. This way you can make two more eggs and another square of noodles the next day with the left over broth. The noodles get too yucky when left in the broth for an extended period of time and the poached eggs should probably be cooked right when you want to eat them.

Note – Smoked paprika is important, it has a very different and far more complex flavor than the regular paprika. Although I am under the impression that Hungarian paprika would work well if that is what you have on hand. Also, I really love spinach in soup. You can consume a mass quantity of spinach easily in this soup, which is good for you, so I tend to go all out. I may or may not use 1/3 – ½ of a tub of spinach when I am making this for myself.

Caitlin’s Favorite Garlic Soup

1 heaping tablespoon chopped garlic, about 3-4 cloves – feel free to use more

1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon smoked Paprika

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes or other red chili powder

Splash white wine (optional) about 1/3 cup

1 900ml carton chicken or vegetable stock

2 squares instant noodles (ramen-ish)

4-5 cups baby spinach

4 eggs

Half a lemon

Put some water on to boil with a touch of vinegar in it so that it is ready to poach the eggs when needed.

Heat the oil in a stock pot and add garlic, paprika and chilies. Sauté until the garlic starts to turn golden, this happens very fast! De-glaze pot with a splash of white wine followed by the carton of broth. While you are bringing the stock to a boil over high heat, carefully crack two of the eggs into a mug. Lower the mug into the nearly boiling vinegar water so that you can get the eggs into the bottom of the pot without having the egg whites go all crazy. Do this again with the other two eggs and poach until medium firm. Once you have the eggs cooking add the noodles to the boiling stock. Turn down the heat to medium and simmer until the eggs are almost done. Add the spinach in the last minute of cooking since you only need to wilt it. The noodles and eggs are usually done at about the same time. If this is not the case, take the eggs out of the water and put them into your soup bowls while the noodles finish up.

Ladle two eggs into a bowl followed by the noodles and broth. Squeeze ¼ lemon over top and serve.

Note – if you poach the eggs medium firm then when you break them open in the soup the yolks seem to flutter through the broth and it makes the whole experience even better. I have managed to over cook my eggs before and the soup was still really good! I enjoy using chop sticks AND a spoon for this meal.