Early Spring Greens Soup
The environmentalists are always urging you to go green, and now we are too…at least when it comes to soup.
Admittedly this is more of a side dish than a full dinner entree, but we couldn’t pass on the opportunity to share a recipe that includes all those beautiful and delicious early spring greens. And besides, “What’s for Side Dish Tonight?” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
Ingredients:
6 green onions, chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
6 stalks of asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups spinach, chopped (fresh is preferable, but if all you have is frozen, that will work too!)
1 cup watercress
1 cup arugula or other dark leafy green, chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon, zest only
Method:
In a large saucepan, melt butter with oil and saute onions until translucent. Add the asparagus, spinach, watercress and lettuce and cook, stirring occasionally. Add half of the broth, cover, and simmer mixture over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Next, place broth mixture – this is easiest done in batches – in a food processor or blender and pulse to puree. Once entire mixture is pureed, return to saucepan, add remaining broth and simmer, uncovered for about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot, garnished with the lemon zest.
Nutrition Analysis:
Courtesy of Fitday.com based on ¼ of the total recipe:
Calories: 141 calories
Fat: 12.7 grams (79% calories from fat)
Carbs: 5.5 grams (14% calories from carbs)
Protein: 2.8 grams (7% calories from protein)
Further Reading:
Choose Your Own Stir-Fry Adventure
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
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Soup looks great Mark!
we will have our first ramps of 2009 tonight. very excited.
Love the recipe, will use it when the greens come in…which isn’t early spring! In fact, now is the time to PLANT those greens and expect them in a couple of months. Of course it may be too early to even plant; the south is expecting a frost this week.
I love it! Sounds like a very interesting combination of flavors (asparagus and arugula) and I’m really curious how it tastes. I bet a little lemon oil on top would be divine….
Great recipe. Arugula is my secret ingredient in my chicken soup.
It flavors the soup delciously!!!
Marc
Archived for when the local asparagus comes into season
adding fiddlehead ferns to this would be a tasty addition too…I’m with Trinkwasser, patiently awaiting the seasonal greens at my farmer’s market…
That soup looks great!
I’m considering planting bell peppers and tomatoes this spring. But, spring ain’t here yet. In fact, my forecast calls for snow tomorrow. It’s been very cold all weekend, too early for me to plant anything yet!
With luck here the purple sprouting broccoli will segue neatly into the asparagus which will then run on to the runner beans, we’re well covered for local green stuff. Last year the beans were just finishing as the broccoli started up again. Global warming has some advantages . . .
I just made this recipe. It is delicious. I used a hand immersion blender instead of food processor or regular blender. I also added a tablespoon or so of miso paste which eliminated the need for salt and made it creamy looking. My daughter gave it a rating of a “million stars”.