Mallorcan Garlic Soup- Cooking on a Budget

The high prices are here to stay -worldwide! A 30% inflation in Europe, 20% inflation in the United States, and higher inflation rates around the globe. Companies have adjusted their fees and costs at our expense. Higher import and export costs and higher wages gave them less profit and that’s something the CEOs and most business owners don’t like at all.

Companies here in the US raise their prices so they have the same profit while selling less, and our wallets are getting smaller, our bills higher.

How do we adjust? We are used to a certain lifestyle and we like to cook and serve good meals to our loved ones.

Cooking with fewer ingredients -cooking on a budget is not complicated. My advice would be to save difficult recipes for the holidays and special occasions and make everyday cooking simpler. That doesn’t mean it can’t be good. Fewer ingredients don’t mean lesser taste.

Most of you have spent your life with parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, and later on, you had a spouse and children of your own. Great family recipes were handed down and you cook them today and one day your kids will inherit them, and hopefully treasure them as well.

I didn’t have any of this. I had a Grandma who was a great cook and later on, a husband who loves me as much as I love him. Kids weren’t in the cards and we adjusted our life. Instead of enjoying the traditional family life, I traveled the world and spent time in Asia and Europe, Africa, and North and South America. That’s where my recipes come from. An international collection that doesn’t make any sense, but means a lot to me.

Cooking on a budget! That’s a lifelong task for many on this planet. Feeding families with almost nothing is an art many women and men have mastered and perfected in their lifetimes.

I have drunk with chefs, have bribed some, or have been their helper until they showed mercy and shared their recipes with me. I have cooked in a hut and in commercial kitchens, have sat on the table, and have found myself under it a few times -buzzed as a bee.

My life so far was great and fulfilled. Yours was too, just differently. Isn’t it wonderful how we can be so happy under so different circumstances?

Today I share one of my favorite soups. A Spanish Garlic Soup you should try before you judge it.

“Sopa de Ajo”

A soup from the Island of Mallorca, the recipe was given to me by a restaurant owner in Palma.

Ingredients:

24 Garlic cloves
4 Toasts, diced into croutons (I use gluten-free bread)
4 TBS Olive Oil
4 Tomatoes, peeled, cut into dice
5 cups of Vegetable Broth
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 tsp Oregano
1 pinch Chili powder (I use Ancho chili powder)
1 TBS parsley, finely chopped

Directions

Roast the garlic and the bread in the olive oil while stirring, add the tomatoes, and cook briefly. Pour in the broth, and season with bay leaf, oregano, and chili powder. Cover the soup and simmer for 20 minutes until the garlic cloves are soft.

Remove the bay leaf, puree the soup with a hand blender, pass through a sieve, and serve garnished with parsley and extra croutons.

I promise you, it will surprise you.

Some people like to add ham or meat leftovers to the soup, others a poached egg but that’s not what the original recipe asks for.

Personally, I think a light dinner is not a bad idea.