Aigo Boulido, Provencal Garlic Soup
Aigo boulido, boiled water in Provencal, is the folk remedy soup of southern France, so plain and so trusted that the old saying runs that it saves lives. At its most basic it is nothing but water simmered with a whole head of garlic, sage, and bay, then poured over a slice of stale bread rubbed with more garlic, sometimes bound with an egg yolk. Left off the bread and the egg, it becomes a clear, fragrant garlic broth, and a diced potato simmered soft gives it just enough body to feel like a meal. The magic is what happens to garlic in water: a whole head, smashed and simmered, turns sweet and gentle rather than sharp. Sage and bay are the classic herbs and should not be swapped out; they are what make it Provencal. It costs almost nothing and comes together in about half an hour.
Ingredients
- 1 head Garlic, cloves smashed and peeled
- 8 leafs Sage
- 2 leafs Bay leaves
- 4 sprigs Thyme
- 2 wholes Potatoes, peeled, diced small
- 1/4 cup Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, ground
Method
- Bring 5 cups water (1.2 liters) to a boil with the whole smashed garlic cloves, sage, bay, and thyme. Smashing the cloves but leaving them whole lets them give their flavor to the broth slowly and sweetly; when garlic is simmered rather than fried it turns mellow and almost sweet, nothing like raw garlic.
- Add the diced potato and simmer, uncovered, until the potato is completely soft and the broth smells deeply of garlic and herb, about 20 minutes. The potato is not traditional to the plainest aigo boulido, which is just herbs and water poured over bread, but here it dissolves at the edges and gives the thin broth some body in place of the bread.
- Fish out the bay, thyme stems, and sage leaves. Lightly crush a few of the soft garlic cloves and the potato against the side of the pot with a spoon. Crushing just some of them clouds and thickens the broth a little while leaving pieces to eat, so it is neither a clear consomme nor a puree.
- Grind in the black pepper and stir in the parsley. Traditionally the broth is ladled over stale bread and sometimes thickened with egg; skip both and the soup stands on the garlic and the potato alone. Taste, and reach for a squeeze of lemon rather than salt.
- Serve hot in deep bowls. It is meant as a light, cleansing soup, the kind eaten late or the morning after, and it is ready in the time it takes to soften a potato.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 110 calories, 3 g protein, 3 g fiber, 30 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
