All content copyright Katrina Hall 2008 through 2025

Saturday, April 18, 2009

spring tonic - bitter greens soup



As a longtime student of herbs, both culinary and medicinal, as soon as the snow melts and the herbs start peeping up, thoughts turn to the spring ritual of tonics and bitter greens. I usually make a thin soup of two or three kinds of bitter greens and puree it, pour it in a mug, and sit outside looking up at the sky and the trees. Pute contentment. You can FEEL your body waking up and shedding the heaviness of winter!
If you feel adventurous, you can snip your own dandelion greens, or new nettles ( wear gloves!) but I opted for a mix of fresh rapini and watercress, with a little parsley for detoxification. After a few sips, I thought a spoonful of my garlicy homemade herb cheese would add a little pizazz, so in it went. Just delicious!
To make the soup:
A homemade chicken stock is the best. Simmer some chicken thighs and legs along with a bay leaf or two and strain it. Reduce it down a little and proceed.
3 cups homemade chicken stock
salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
3 cups chopped rapini ( no stems)
3 cups chopped watercress ( stems ok)
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley ( stems ok)
Bring the stock to a simmer and add the greens. Cook for ten minutes, then take off heat.
Using an immersion blender, puree soup. Pour into mugs or bowls and serve with a heaping soupspoonful of herb cheese, stirring it into the soup as you sip it.
Happy Spring!

8 comments:

Carolyn said...

This looks good. Would love to know more about your medicinal herbs. I use a lot of supplements in my practice, but not so many herbs.

katrina said...

Carolyn - it's tricky, using herbs medicinally. I think bitter greens are good for the body anytime, but that goes along with a healthy, varied diet. With supplements and homeopathic remedies, you at least have purity and strength (2X, 10X etc) identified. I use herbs primarily for their taste, though I do like a good soak in a thyme or lemon balm & hops bath. There are lots of good books out there on herbs and I encourage you to find a few; they are fascinating reading.

lisaiscooking said...

I'm planning to make a pureed greens soup for dinner tomorrow. Yours looks fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Lisa! Enjoy your toast to Spring!

katrina said...

Whoops - having problems with comments - I thank you for stopping by!

Anonymous said...

This soup sounds really good with the greens and super healthy!

katrina said...

Thanks, 5 Star Foodie!

I find myself craving a nice greens soup every few weeks - love the various tastes and the deep green color - sounds like you like them too!

Winnie said...

This soup looks fantastic..beautiful, too!