Green Soup with Ginger and Exciting News!

Another day, another soup! Today, we are going to talk about this mess of leafy green deliciousness....



in just a minute after I talk about some other very important things. For example... Ben finished his thesis defense! And his committee told him it was one of the most polished defense presentations they'd ever seen...AND they said his paper was well-written and actually fun to read!

In order to illustrate the full depth of my fiancee's boundless intelligence, I present to you my business strategy book, borrowed from me to use as a prop for his theater class, which he then inexplicably covered with another different cover and wrote all over it like a 4th grader.

So really he could have used any book and pretended it was a business strategy book...but instead he went through the trouble of borrowing an actual business book and then covering it up... It also appears he learned everything I have learned in 4 semesters during the course of the 5 minutes it took to make this prop:

Ben MacKenzie, ladies and gentlemen.
Also, my friend Jordan's birthday party was this weekend! Jordan makes some great munchies and it was fun meeting new people at her party :)

OK so soup. I was inspired to make this a while back when I saw it on Heidi's blog, and with the abundance of leftover ginger and random lemon sitting in my fridge I figured now was the time. This soup is perfect for this time of year - the warmth and coziness of the fact that, well, it's soup, acknowledges that it's still cold outside, but the bright ginger and lemon flavors say "enough of this nonsense, we want spring." Or at least that's probably what they would say, if they could talk.

I used Rainbow chard and Spinach, but I'm sure you could use any combination of greens you felt like using... arugala would probably be nice, Kale could work too but it might be a little too meaty. Hard to say.

Also just be aware that if you're using red or rainbow chard, you may end up with a soup that is more brownish than green. The red from the chard stems seeps out everywhere and as it turns out, red + green = brown. Learned that in kindergarten.

Nevertheless, this soup is still quite yummy. You can either blend it or not, I imagine it would keep and re-heat better blended (which is why I blended mine). Enjoy!

GREEN SOUP WITH GINGER

Originally from "Love Soup" by Anna Thomas

1 yellow onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, plus more if needed
1 sweet potato
1 white and light green parts
1 bunch spinach (8 ounces)
1 large bunch green chard (12 ounces)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
2 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth
2-4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper

Chop the onion quite small and sautee it in a soup pot with the olive oil over low heat until onions are carmelized (at least 20 mins). Remove the onions from the pot and place in a separate plate or small bowl. Add the sweet potato, chard stems and ginger to the pot with 4 cups of water and bring to a simmer. Cover and continue simmering.

After 10 minutes or so, add the onions. After 20 minutes, coarsely chop the chard leaves and add them to the pot, let them cook down a bit. After 25 minutes add the spinach and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Open the pot, look at the pretty colors and contemplate how beautiful your soup is. Then take your immersion blender and go to town until pretty much blended (there will still probably be small chunks of ginger - not to worry). Add the lemon juice (I recommend at least one Tablespoon), season to taste with salt and pepper.