Soups are essential in winter, because they’re warming, nourishing and rarely expensive. Spanish white soup is more often served chilled in summer, but it can also be great cold-weather comfort food. The garlic is roasted, and is a completely different creature from fresh garlic, because the flavour is tamed and softened to a creamy richness (I’ve even been known to eat it spread on toast.) Jerusalem artichokes, meanwhile, aren’t around for long, so use them while you can. When fried, as here, they work brilliantly in a migas with some earthy mushrooms. Like many rural Spanish dishes, migas was developed out of hard times and the need not to waste anything, and are a great way to create a sexy, crunchy crumb seasoning; if you’re feeling adventurous, jazz them up by adding some crisp fried chorizo or morcilla, too.
White roast garlic and almond soup with crisp jerusalem artichoke and mushroom migas
Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 4
2 whole garlic bulbs, tops sliced off
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
150g roasted almonds, Marcona for preference
1 banana shallot, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp smoked sweet pimentón
800ml vegetable or chicken stock
1 x 400g tin white beans (haricots or cannellini, say), drained and rinsed
300ml whole milk
Extra-virgin olive oil, to serve
For the migas
250ml olive oil
200g jerusalem artichokes, scrubbed and cut into thin rounds
150g mixed mushrooms, sliced or torn into small pieces
100g stale white bread, torn into small crumbs
1 small handful fresh thyme leaves
Heat the oven to 170C (150C fan)/325F/gas 3. Put the garlic in a small ovenproof dish, drizzle with the oil, season and roast for 20-30 minutes, until really tender. Remove and, once it’s cool enough to handle, squeeze out the roast garlic flesh from the papery skins and into a bowl.
Meanwhile, heat the oil for the migas to medium-high, add the sliced jerusalem artichokes and cook, stirring, for 18-20 minutes, until tender and only lightly coloured. Drain off all but three or four tablespoons of the oil (save the oil for later), turn the heat up high and fry the artichokes until golden and crisp. Tip out on to a plate lined with kitchen towel to drain and season with sea salt.
Put the mushrooms in the same pan with a tablespoon or two more oil. Fry, stirring, on a high heat until golden and crisp, then transfer to the jerusalem artichoke plate. Pour another tablespoon of oil into the pan, add the bread and thyme, and fry until golden and crisp. Return the artichokes and mushrooms to the pan, mix well, season to taste and set aside.
Blitz the roast almonds to a fine crumb in a food processor. Heat a tablespoon of the reserved artichoke oil in a large pan, then gently sweat the shallot for five minutes, until soft and lightly golden. Add the pimentón, roast garlic flesh and almond meal, and cook, stirring, for a minute. Pour in the stock, season generously and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Add the beans and milk, cook for a further five minutes, then use a hand-blender to blitz the mix until it’s really smooth.
Ladle into bowls and serve topped with the jerusalem artichoke and mushroom migas, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and some freshly cracked black pepper.
