Roasted Garlic and Shallot Potato Soup with Cheesy Croutons

Ingredients

• Soup:
• 5 whole garlic heads, unpeeled
• 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 10 shallots, unpeeled (about 3/4 pound)
• 2 cups coarsely chopped onion
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled baking potato (about 3/4 pound)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• Croutons:
• 16 (1/2-inch-thick) slices French bread baguette
• Cooking spray
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. To prepare soup, remove white papery skins from garlic heads (do not peel or separate cloves); cut off tops, leaving root ends intact. Place garlic in a shallow roasting pan. Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil over garlic; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover with foil. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Add shallots to pan. Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil over shallots; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover and bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until tender and browned. Cool. Squeeze garlic to extract pulp; peel shallots. Discard skins. Set garlic pulp and shallots aside.
3. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat; add onion. Cover and cook 15 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Add garlic pulp, peeled shallots, and wine. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes.
4. Stir in broth, potato, and thyme; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender. Cool slightly. Place half of potato mixture in a blender; process until smooth. Pour pureed mixture into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining potato mixture.
5. Return pureed mixture to pan; stir in milk, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper into pureed mixture. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
6. Preheat oven to 400°.
7. To prepare croutons, place bread slices in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Lightly coat tops of bread with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Sprinkle cheeses evenly over bread slices, turning once. Bake 3 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve warm with soup.