Green Soup

We’ve been enjoying a little “cold snap” here in Florida for the past week or so, which has put us all into the fall mood.  And on the coldest day of all (the high daytime temperature was 69 degrees!) I fell into a soup-making mood.  In full nesting mode and not in the mood for a trip to the store, my refrigerator yielded a head of broccoli as my main ingredient and so I started to look for a recipe.  I found one to adapt by Barbara Kafka from her book Soup.  Served with Parmesan toast, this was just the thing for a blustery fall day.

Green Soup
Makes 6 cups

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 medium-size russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
5 cups Chicken Stock (homemade would be great, but I used commercial and it was fine)
1 small head broccoli, stems peeled and cut into pieces, tops cut into florets
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and all of the liquid squeezed out
3 teaspoons kosher salt (taste after the addition of each one to avoid over salting)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a soup pot or large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes or until they are soft and translucent.  

Add the potatoes and chicken stock, bring to a boil, and then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the broccoli and the spinach, cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until all of the vegetables are very soft.

Strain the soup broth into another saucepan and transfer the vegetables to a food processor.  Puree the vegetables until very smooth and then whisk them back into the reserved soup broth.  Season with salt and pepper.  When ready to serve, heat through again.

Parmesan Toast

2 thick slices of sourdough (or whatever sturdy bread you have on hand)
Olive Oil
Grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Drizzle some olive oil onto the bread slices, and then sprinkle them generously with the grated Parmesan cheese.  Put on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, and then start watching them.   The cheese should be brown and bubbly when you take them out.  Cut into serving pieces.