garlic soup with linguiça and parsley

i saw a photo of a soup done by rick stein in the september issue of delicious magazine; i had fully intended on following the recipe, but i lost the issue, and i don't really remember what the creamy stuff was--potatoes? cauliflower? earwax? no matter. my cousin's aunt (other other side of family) has a predilection for cooking using visual clues, which can lead to some, uh, interesting results; lasagna made with enchilada sauce and processed american cheese comes to mind (sorry, tita--you do good soup, though). alarmingly, i seem to be picking up on this trait, but thankfully, i seem to stick to relatively "safe" food items (imagine if the soup had been blue...). so, i decided to wing it.

having said that, i'm not so sure about this one. i'm fairly positive i've got the visuals correct, and i'm close enough with the fried linguiça(portuguese sausage)and parsley that i used instead of the chorizo in the rick stein version. for the soup i settled on a garlic-potato soup made from chicken stock, sautéed onions in butter, a couple of potatoes and a head or so of garlic simmered until the potatoes and garlic go soft, a cup of heavy cream, then whizzied through the blender. a little salt, a little white pepper, and i had something very mellow but tasty. i garnished accordingly, and dug in.

hm.

the soup was full bodied, but cooking had tempered the bite of the garlic significantly. on its own, it was great, but with the addition of the linguiça (even milder than the chorizo), it became bland and tasteless. the spicy sausage was drowned in the sea of white, like a blanket of mashed potato. sort of a waste, really.

maybe i should have gone for the spicier chorizo. maybe i should look for the magazine.