persil frise ( winter soup)

Do you ever have days when you suddenly crave greens? Hot greens in particular, which means a beautiful, thick, hot green soup. I not only feel virtuous, I feel strong and healthy - like Popeye!

When I serve this soup, I present it in my best French accent - "pairsil freesay" - which simply means curly parsley. It always has at least one cup chopped parsley, and I usually use the flat leaf kind, as it has more flavor. But the first time I made it, I only had curly parsley, so thence its name.

You can vary this by composing your own soup using:

4 cups of various greens

2 cups stock

1/2 cup diced raw potato or 1/2 cup cooked rice for the starch

Make sure the vegetables go together well by tasting them together before cooking them.

To make:

1 T. olive oil

1 T. unsalted butter (optional)

1 T. cumin

pinch hot pepper flakes (optional)

1 large clove slivered fresh garlic

2 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 cup leeks, white only, sliced

1 cup celery, sliced, with some leaves

1/2 cup diced potato

2+ cups arugula and parsley, chopped

1 t. dried dill or 1 T. fresh, chopped

1 t. dried or fresh oregano

Heat olive oil and butter in pot. Add the garlic, hot pepper, and cumin and briefly saute.

Add the stock, celery, leeks, and potato and turn heat to medium.

Cook until the celery and potatoes are tender.

Turn off heat and stir in the parsley, arugula and the dill.

Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, puree.

Taste carefully and adjust seasoning. Very little salt, if any, is needed.

Float toasted croutons on top, or serve with a gooey, grilled cheese sandwich.

Happy New Year to all - and don't forget to eat your greens!