Many years ago I was introduced to two special recipes, both of which owe their magic to garlic. The first is a pureed vegetable soup, pure de verduras,

shared with me by a medical school friend who had once lived in Spain. Pure de verduras was prepared with whatever vegetables were left at the end of the week, so it never came out exactly the same twice. Here’s the general approach: Wash and prepare (peel, if necessary) any combination of available vegetables, and chop them coarsely so that you end up with 4-5 cups of vegetables. Add the chopped veggies to a frying pan containing a couple of teaspoons of hot, fragrant olive oil. After a few minutes of frying on med-high heat, add barely enough water to reach the surface of the vegetables. Cover the pan, and allow the vegetables to cook for approximately 10 minutes until just cooked through. The cooking time will differ depending on the types of vegetables. Add the contents of the pan to a high-speed blender and blend until the vegetables are pureed.

Meanwhile, heat another teaspoon of olive oil in the frying pan, and add thin slices from 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic. Fry the garlic for a minute, so that it still retains some of its bite but is slightly mellowed. To serve, pour four individual bowls and then spoon some of the garlic with oil into each bowl.

The second recipe consists of a delicious red dip made — simply enough — from dried tomatoes and garlic, and served alongside sticks or slices of fresh vegetables and crackers for dipping.

The ingredients for this recipe consist of 2 cups of dried tomatoes and a single clove of garlic chopped into 6-8 chunks. Put everything into a food processor or blender, and pulse a few times until the texture is chunky. Don’t turn on the machine and walk away or you’ll end up with tomato paste.