I found/snagged this book from and old box in my Moms basement while we were back home in Kansas. When we returned to Vegas I opened up the book to see if there was anything in there that I could make for dinner with our limited groceries as we tried to eat up a lot of our perishables before we left. This spinach soup was the first recipe I looked at in this book and we actually had all the ingredients, strangely awesome. EXCEPT for the sea salt that I couldn’t find for about 10 minutes of constant searching. I called in J for assistance and we rummaged through every cabinet and drawer in the kitchen. Finally she said to check in the refrigerator, yep. In our mad dash to get to the airport after making pancakes the morning we left for Kansas I must have mindlessly put it in there, sheesh! I also made some mashed potatoes to go along with this which turned out to be a nice little combo. I personally plopped some mashed potatoes in the center of a deep plate and poured the soup around the bottom so I had a little mashed potato island in a sea of spinach soup, it kinda acted as a gravy. The soup was perfect for J because she doesn’t jam with onions unless they are blended up into a puree like in this recipe, it’s a texture thing. It’s a fairly simple soup to make and has a wonderful creamy/buttery earthy taste. J liked the flavor which surprised me since she usually isn’t a huge fan of “too much” spinach. Z, she ate a little here and there but mostly filled up on the potatoes. I of course loved it.
First recipe out of this book is a win, thanks Mom!
Spinach Soup
This recipe is from the Julia Child’s and Simone Beck book The Art of French Cooking, Vol. 2.
- Ingredients
- 2 T. butter
- 1/2 c. onions, chopped
- 10 oz. frozen spinach (1 1/2 to 2 lb. fresh)
- 5 c. vegetable broth (I used 4 and 1 c. spring water)
- 1/3 c. brown rice, uncooked
- pinch of nutmeg
- sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
- 2 free range egg yolks
- 1/2 c. heavy cream (I used half and half)
- 2 to 4 T. butter, melted
- freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Preparation
Slowly cook onions in two tablespoons butter until soft but not brown, about eight to ten minutes. Rinse and drain frozen spinach squeezing out any water. Add to pan and cook for another five minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil then add rice, nutmeg, sea salt and pepper. Simmer partially covered for about 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove from heat and let cool enough to put in blender and puree. I added a couple ice cubes to speed up the process. Return puree to pan and bring back to a simmer. In a medium bowl blend the cream and yolks with a wire whisk and then slowly mix in about two cups of the hot soup from the pan. Return back into the saucepan. To serve add the remaining butter and a little lemon juice if you wish and more sea salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
