Can a soup with 6 super greens taste super good? It only takes a couple of secret ingredients to put it over the top.
Although I am trying to cook healthy during this shut-in, I admit I have been lax about eating enough greens. We are having salads, but they just aren’t doing it for me. So when I finally ventured out to the supermarket this morning with my sanitizer, vinyl gloves and mask, I headed straight for the produce. (That was a mistake, because there was no shortage of produce, but by the time I got to the eggs, there were none.)
I pondered the package of super greens and decided they would be the perfect beginning for a healthful soup. Five super greens in one package, what a great way to start. I then chose a bunch of fresh spinach over the baby packaged spinach leaves, because the mature leaves have more flavor. One baking potato to help thicken the soup, some vegetable broth and a carton of plain Greek yogurt and I headed home.
After unpacking, I pondered my ingredients and began creating the soup. I remembered a lesson I learned from a two week cooking class I went to way back in the seventies. This is a great story, so forgive the detour.
I had read in Gourmet magazine about a woman in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, who was teaching a class on how to cut up a cow. At the time I was teaching cooking classes in my home in Encino, CA, but decided it was essential that I learn how to cut up a cow. Why a young mother of four who was teaching cooking classes at home felt this was important, I still haven’t figured out? I’ve never had occasion to cut up even a quarter of a cow and I’m sure I never will.
For whatever my reasons, off I headed for 2 weeks of intense cooking lessons in Madame Kuony’s home. Madame Kuony was a short, rotund, buxom woman in her seventies, who considered herself a grand dame. We had to call her madame and she acted every bit like one. On the one and only day we cut up half of a cow, she stood on a high platform in order to reach the animal with her large saw. Yes, a full industrial saw. She divided us into pairs and we were each given a saw.
We began referring to her long, tedious classes as Cooking Boot Camp. It was not a compliment. When we complained, she’d quote her mother who said, “The trenches were worse.” Some days we weren’t sure.
We cooked for 10 to 12 hours a day and each day one of the 20 of us students had to make what was called the dreaded Leftover Soup. The soup never tasted bad, but making it was torture.
We never threw anything away. All the vegetable peelings and leftovers were thrown into a huge vat and one unlucky person had to work this mess through a gigantic food mill fastened over a huge stock pot. This took hours and lots of manual labor as we pulled, twisted and tugged the knob on the enormous mill, trying to press every morsel of food into liquid through it. The resulting thick glob ranged in color from greenish to reddish to dark brown.
No matter the color or ingredients, the final soup always tasted good. That is because Madame had a secret. Simply throw in a handful of curry powder and cumin and it would rescue the flavor of even the most unappetizing leftovers. And it always did.
So with this in mind, I began creating my multi-greens soup. I began by cooking the onions and garlic until soft and then stirring in the cumin, curry power and turmeric. Turmeric is a golden-hued Indian spice with a pungent, earthy-sweet taste and so many health benefits that I frequently add it to any dish with curry. These spices are most flavorful when you cook them lightly before adding the liquid.
I added the potatoes and stock and cooked the soup for several minutes to soften the potatoes before adding the greens, a handful at a time. You don’t need to chop anything too small, because it will all be blended when it’s done. The bigger the pieces of potato, however, the longer the soup will need to cook. The soup is then blended in a blender or with an immersion blender. I’ve never had good luck getting the soup really smooth with an immersion blender, so I prefer the blender.
I like topping the soup with a good dollop of Greek yogurt to balance the flavors, but if you’re a vegan, you can leave that out.
So go ahead and get healthy. You might even consider doubling the recipe and freezing half for another meal. You’ll be amazed at how adding a little curry powder and cumin can heighten simple greens. And even leftovers!
Super Greens & Spinach Soup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (such as canola) or light olive oil
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ground curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt, or to taste
1 medium russet potato, peeled and chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
5 ounces super greens
5 ounces fresh spinach, 1 bunch leaves only
Plain whole milk Greek yogurt, for topping
In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat oil until hot. Add onion and garlic ad cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in curry powder, cumin, turmeric, nutmeg, salt and pepper; cook stirring often for 2 minutes. Add potato and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until potato is almost tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Reserve a few smaller leaves of greens for garnish. Add the remainder of the leaves to the soup a handful at time until all are incorporated. Bring to a simmer over medium heat ad cook for 10 minutes.
Working in batches, transfer soup to a blender, processing until smooth. Alternatively, soup may be blended with an immersion blender.
Soup may be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen at this point, if desired. Defrost and heat until hot.
Divide soup into bowls and top each serving with a generous spoonful of Greek yogurt and a few reserved leaves.
Makes 4 servings.
