Castilian Garlic Soup (p. 125) and Pancetta Rolls

This recipe uses a lot of garlic -- like, a real lot. If you make the full recipe's worth, it calls for 5 or 6 whole heads (no, not just the cloves) of garlic. Crazy! I cut the recipe down to just two whole heads of garlic, which still seemed extreme.

Soften the garlic in olive oil for about 15 minutes, being careful not to brown the cloves. Once they're soft, remove the cloves from the oil and squash them all up in a bowl.

Stir red chili pepper into the still hot oil in the pan and add in chicken stock and sherry as well as cumin and saffron. Add the garlic paste back in and set on low heat, covered, for about 15 minutes. Serve with toasted bread, poached eggs, or grated cheese.

This was very ehh. I was surprised that it wasn't super garlic-y -- it actually didn't have a ton of flavor at all. It mostly just tasted like chicken stock to me. Also, the photos were hideous, so you don't get to see any.

Luckily, I also made a recipe from My Bread by Jim Lahey -- Pancetta Rolls.

I used bacon instead of pancetta.

And voila, bacon rolls!

Next time, however, I won't use the maple bacon; it kind of made the rolls taste like maple syrup. 

For lunch today I filled up on bacon-y goodness instead of garlic soup.

chicken stock -- $1.79 (about half left)

garlic -- $1.14

Total Cost of Castilian Garlic Soup: $2.93

($1.47 per serving)