Soup of the Week – Green Soup

Ever have a whole lot of veggies left in your refrigerator that need to be used or else end up in the garbage can?

That happens here sometimes. Not often, thankfully, because we really are good vegetable eaters here. But every now and then, especially with a CSA share, we end up with more of something than we can use before it passes its prime.

This was the case several months ago with greens. As in lettuce. And so I decided to make lettuce soup.

Wait! Hold it!

Don’t click away yet! Stay with me on this…it really isn’t as bad as it sounds. I’ve made it several times already. Kidzilla loves it. My Mom has had at least one version of it and enjoyed it. My Mother-in-Law and Father-in-Law have had it. My Father-in-Law, so I’m told, nearly licked the bowl clean and “yummed” his way through it.

Even the Fab Hub likes it and he was a longtime soup hater. He is also not a lover of leafy greens – he’ll eat a pretty basic romaine or spinach, but nothing extreme like frisee or Swiss chard or kale. But in Green Soup? Yup, in they go. In fact, when I suggested that there might be Green Soup with dinner one night last week and then didn’t make it that day, he was a bit disappointed.

It all started with a bunch of salad greens that were past their prime. I hate food waste for so many reasons and I just couldn’t bear the thought of tossing them. I’ve made soup with nearly every other vegetable I can think of so I figured there had to be such a thing as lettuce soup. Guess what? There is.

Google it or poke around on Pinterest long enough and you’ll find several different versions. They’re all a bit different and yet all basically the same. One version involves garlic, onion, potatoes, a head of lettuce and some balsamic vinegar. Another we tried has chicken broth, parsley, oregano, Bibb lettuce, and heavy cream. Yet another calls for romaine or butter lettuce, leeks, butter, nutmeg, and lemon. They’re all good and I probably read about ten others before I was convinced it was a real thing and I could go ahead and make it.

The version I submit for you today is the one that’s become our favorite. It’s a Cream of Swiss Chard recipe that I found via Yankee Magazine’s website. It seems to be a recipe from The Combes Family Inn in Ludlow, Vermont. We honeymooned in Vermont, so that kind of sold me right away. Well, that and the fact that I had a particularly large crop of Swiss chard to deal with and the Hub did not want Swiss Chard Lemon Pasta for dinner that night (also delicious, by the way).

The recipe here is exactly what I found on Yankee Magazine’s site. I just made notes about any variations I made. And you know I did…

Cream of Swiss Chard Soup by Yankee Magazine (from The Combes Family Inn, Ludlow, VT)

What you need:

• 1 3/4 quarts hot chicken stock – Um, no. If I use a store-bought organic, it comes in a quart container. If I use my homemade, I freeze it in quart bags. So two quarts of stock it is. Want vegetarian? Use vegetable stock. Still works.
• 3/4 pound Swiss chard, chopped – Do I measure it precisely? No. I mean, I have, but once you’ve done it you kind of know what you need and a little more or less green stuff isn’t going to alter it all that much.
• 3 ounces diced onion – Again, whatever looks like about that much. I used a sad-looking shallot and two very small onions from the CSA box.
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 ounces butter – About 2 Tablespoons, if you don’t feel like looking up a conversion.
• 3 ounces flour – The first time I made this, I spent a whole lot of time trying to find a precise conversion to cups. I found a chart that said 1/4 cup is about 1.1 ounces. Further down the chart, it shows 2/3 cup as 2.9 ounces. Pffft. Whatever. Somewhere around 2/3 to 3/4 of a cup of flour will do it.
• 1 pint hot milk
• 1/2 pint hot light cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

What to do:

1. Heat stock in large pot. (If I’m using my own frozen, I just toss the block in the pot on low heat to defrost while I chop the greens and onions.)
2. Add Swiss chard, onion, and bay leaf. Simmer 1 hour. (See “stock note” below on this one.)
3. In another large pot, melt butter and stir in flour to make roux. (Yes, it does help to have two stock pots for this one. I may or may not have said, “are you freaking kidding me?” the first time I made it, but it really is better.) Cook over low heat for 8 minutes. Do not brown.
4. Add stock to roux gradually, stirring until slightly thickened and smooth. Simmer 30 minutes.
5. **Remember to take out the bay leaf before you do this part!** Pass through food mill or blender. (I used my Vitamix in three smaller batches. Could’ve done it in two, but then there is risk of a Vitamix blowout and that isn’t fun for anyone.) Add heated milk and cream.
6. Season and serve.

Other notes:

This does not have to be Swiss Chard soup, specifically. The Yankee Magazine site has a note from the folks at The Combes Family Inn that says you can also use lettuce, spinach, or broccoli. For this week’s version, I used a combination of organic salad greens, a bit of Asian spinach mix, arugula, and parsley – all organic from our CSA farm. Use what you have – for me, the whole idea is to make sure those greens don’t get wasted so I never shop for ingredients for this soup.

Stock note for step #2 in the recipe: The Yankee site says “This stock can be put in containers and frozen, then used when needed.” Never tried it, but I’m sure you could do that if you don’t want the soup right then, but need to get rid of some greens in a hurry. And that would certainly make it very simple to throw this soup together on a busy weeknight since the hard part is already done.

While I usually use my Vitamix to finish soups like this you can use an immersion blender – and I have. The result is a bit different in the texture department – you’ll get tiny bits of greens throughout a soup that is much less vibrantly green, but it still tastes amazing. If you want the completely puréed and bright green version, go with the blender or Vitamix.

To serve, you can do just about anything you want with this. It’s excellent with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt, sour cream, or crème fraiche. That’s how Kidzilla eats it. I like to add some red pepper flakes as well. The Hub prefers his with grated or shaved parmesan cheese. It works well with crackers, croutons, or bread.

Tonight, I tried something new. I had some other leftovers that were sitting too long unloved in my refrigerator – something called “Golden Jewel Blend” from our favorite supermarket. It’s “a blend of Israeli couscous, tri-colored orzo pasta, split baby garbanzo beans and red quinoa,” according to the product description. I put a serving of that into the middle of my soup, added some feta cheese, red pepper flakes, and fresh ground black pepper on top. On the side, some sweet organic Honeycrisp apple slices provided a nice contrast to the salty feta.

The only thing I probably would not serve with this is a salad. Somehow that just seems a bit redundant.

For those who were hoping for cream of broccoli here today, my apologies. I needed to take care of the greens in my crisper drawer before they were inedible and the broccoli is happily hanging out in the freezer. We’ll get to that one soon!

Also coming soon to future Soup of the Week posts:

• Tomato soup, requested by Kidzilla
• Cream of mushroom soup, submitted by May of Achieving Clarity

Don’t forget to submit your soup suggestions for a Soup of the Week! And thanks to all of you who said you love soup and are looking forward to seeing great recipes here!

Enjoy!