Plate to Plate

Although technically spring arrived here in the Berkshires in March, the weather hasn’t really been cooperating, blessing us one day with glorious white sunbeams and balmy 70 degree breezes, and dousing us with cold rain and clouds the next. And though it never went above 57 today, and there’s a frost warning for tonight, I’ve refused as a point of pride to turn the heat on in the house, instead choosing to shuffle around in hoodie atop sweater atop long-sleeved shirt, feet clad in wool socks and slippers.

So it was a good thing that there was some soup left over for lunch, because otherwise Dan might’ve found me, a fleece-clad mummy, blue-lipped and shivering behind my desk at the end of the work day.

This recipe makes good use of wonderful, quintessential springtime green garlic — we got ours from the weekly vegetable pick-up at Sidehill Farm in Ashfield — new potatoes, and any vegetable stock you might have kicking around in the freezer from over the winter. The soup is green-tasting and bright, almost sharp, and is even better the next day with a swirl of crème fraîche and a hunk of crusty bread.

Green Garlic Soup

Serve the soup immediately or it’ll lose it’s bright green hue (though it tastes a bit better after having rested overnight).

Olive oil
1 tbs. butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small bunch green garlic, chopped
3 small white potatoes, halved and sliced thinly
4 c. vegetable stock (chicken stock would be fine, too)
1 c. baby spinach, packed
salt and pepper
juice of 1 lemon
chives
crème fraîche or cream

Heat a few tablespoons of oil and the butter over medium-low heat in a large soup pot. Add the onions and cook for several minutes — as long as ten or twelve, and you can chop the garlic while you wait — until very soft and slightly brown around the edges.

Add the garlic and potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes or until potatoes begin to soften.

Add the stock and increase the heat to high. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes. Add the spinach, stir, and remove the pot from the heat. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup to a smooth consistency. Add several large pinches of salt and a few grinds of pepper, and half the lemon juice. Taste, and adjust seasonings as necessary.

Serve garnished with chives and a swirl of crème fraîche or local cream.