Spring Greens Soup!
Since one of our Lets Lunch members is recovering from a surgery that requires her to eat only liquids, we decided to honor her this month with liquid lunches! Since it’s spring I immediately wanted something green. So, I pulled some homemade chicken broth out of the freezer—every time we roast a chicken, we boil the carcass down for stock–and with my sous chef (hubby Dan) doing most of the grunt work, we heated it up, threw in some baby spinach, the juice of two lemons, some salt, and some chopped kale, cilantro, parsley and broccoli and a bag of frozen green peas. And then we pureed it. It was that simple. Warm greenness to eat! Do not ask me the proportions. What I can tell you is that it was just an equal ratio of green things to broth. Then we made Dan’s favorite: the Joy of Cooking Baguette to go along with it (made with wheat grown and milled in Maine!): p. 601
See Dan’s beautiful picture, here:
This is a great light lunch—and very springy! BUT if I’m totally honest here, and had more time to futz with this to make it perfect, this soup might do well cooked with a ham hock or some pancetta crumbled in. It’s good as is, but it’s missing that umami we all crave.
Don’t forget to check out the Let’s Lunchers’ liquid lunch offerings below! And if you’d like to join Let’s Lunch, go to Twitter and post a message with the hashtag #Letslunch — or, post a comment below.
Cheryl‘s Miso-Bacon-Corn Chowder: An Umami-Packed Liquid Lunch at A Tiger in the Kitchen
Cathy‘s Nut Milk at Show Food Chef
Chris‘s Asparagus & Artichoke Bisque at Blog Well Done
Denise‘s Mango Lassi at Chez Us
Eleanor‘s Turnip, Chinese Mushroom & Pork Soup at Be a Wok Star
Ellise‘s Cucumber-Avocado Gazpacho at Cowgirl Chef
Emma‘s Ham-Hock Soup at Dreaming of Pots & Pans
Linda‘s Crack Pie-Inspired Shake at Free Range Cookies
Mai‘s Peanut Butter-Espresso Smoothie at Cooking in The Fruit Bowl
Rashda‘s Spring Pea & Mint Soup at Hot Curries & Cold Beer
Steff‘s Gazpacho at The Kitchen Trials
Enjoy! –Caitlin.
It looks gorgeous! Pancetta makes anything better but your soup looked delicious as is. I was just telling @SpiceBites I have some peas in the fridge I need to use up…I’m hoping I have enough to try your recipe and hers! (By the way, on the umami, a teaspoon of miso could do the trick — and it’s less fattening than pancetta!)
Great idea!!! I’ll add some now.
truly a spring gem! We have leftover smoked ham from easter that I will use in the soup – it’s so easy too that I can even make this in recovery mode! Thank you so much for joining us and for taking good virtual care of me!
Welcome and what a great soup! This sounds so full of flavor and then healthy too
The bread has me really hungry, as well. Fun post.
That soup looks so good. I love the bright green color. I agree with Cheryl, some pancetta would be good. I also think some grated Parmesan (maybe 1/4 of a cup?) would also add some nutty tones to the soup.
I love the homemade bread too — I got to make one sometime.
Looks great! I love the bright green color. I think pancetta would be great, but I also would suggest maybe some grated Parmesan to give it some nice nutty tones.
Lol! We were on the same wavelength! Your soup sounds so wonderfully healthy. Love all the different greens you used.
Looks awesome! Is this a hot soup or a cold soup? I’m guessing hot? I’ve never made soup like this before, can’t wait to try it!
It’s hot!! Try it out. Very springy. xxo C.
[...] Caitlin‘s Spring Greens Soup with Homemade Baguette at Caitlin Shetterly [...]
Gorgeous soup. And what a big, beautiful photo!
This looks gorgeous – and I love that you simply blended the green veggies that you had on hand to make this. They do this all the time in France, and of course, it always seems so elegant. Chic and cheap – I love it!
Soup and bread sounds good, esp. for Karen! Great to hear you cook by the seat of your pants too. New to the group so had to read your bio etc. to leave a meaningful comment. Wow, you’ve gone through a lot and came out with a nice book, congrats.