Roast garlic soup with Gruyère

You may well think that two bulbs of garlic is extravagant for a soup, but those fresh new season's bulbs, when roasted, take on a sweet, almost caramel-like taste. If you have access to wild or hedgerow garlic, then you could chop some and also add at the end as a garnish.

2 bulbs of new season's garlic
60g butter
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1^1/2 tbsp plain flour
1^1/2 litres hot vegetable stock, or a couple of good quality stock cubes dissolved in that amount of water
100g Gruyère cheese, grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 5. Halve the bulbs of garlic and place them on to a baking tray and cook for 40 minutes in the oven. If they are starting to brown too much cover with foil.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan and gently cook the onions for about 5 minutes, stirring every so often until they are softened. Then add the flour and stir well, and then gradually add the hot stock, stirring well to avoid any lumps forming.

Season and simmer for about 20 minutes, and then add the roasted garlic and continue simmering for another 30 minutes. Blend until smooth in a liquidiser and then strain the soup through a conical strainer. Re-season if necessary and serve with the Gruyère cheese scattered on top.