Provencal garlic soup

Remove the loose outside skin from two bulbs of garlic and chop the heads roughly.

Add the garlic to two quarts of boiling water with two teaspoons of salt, a bay leaf, a quarter teaspoon each of thyme and sage.

Simmer about 20 to 30 minutes.

Add the saffron threads and two whole cloves.

Strain the soup, pushing it through a sieve to get as much flavour out as possible, and return it to a sauce pan.

Keep it simmering and season with salt and pepper.

Beat three egg yolks until thick and sticky.

Beat in a quarter cup of olive oil to make a thick sauce, the liaison.

Bring the soup base to a boil and scrape the liaison into it.

It scrambled. Clean the scrambled egg out, whip up three more yolks, beat the olive oil in a little at a time and go gently the second time.

Finish with a little chopped parsley, and shave a little Parmesan over the bowl.