All content copyright Katrina Hall 2008 through 2025

Thursday, July 7, 2011

chilled parsley and romaine soup




It's a true summer day - sweltering heat and humid, and the urge to spend most of your time in the closest available body of water. Happily for me, after dipping my toes in the pond in between errands and appointments, I had this soup ready and chilled in the fridge for a late lunch. Perfectly light, but full of flavor, it was all I needed on this very hot day.

The recipe came to be because I was determined to use all that beautiful produce from the farmers market and the farmstand before it wilted, and the dark, leafy greens of the Italian parsley were especially gorgeous. In the vegetable drawer next to the parsley, sat the head of romaine, so, voila! - a soup was born. Parsley is so often used as a garnish, while it is a very tasty and healthy herb that should be used more as a vegetable. For more flavor in any of your summer salads ( pasta and potato come to mind) just add in a cup of chopped parsley to perk up the taste.

The recipe: ( makes 3 servings)

1 T. olive oil
half of a large white onion, peeled and sliced
2 large cloves peeled garlic
pinch of thyme
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups roughly chopped parsley
2 cups romaine lettuce, roughly chopped
1 t. dried dill, or 1 T. fresh, finely minced
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the onion and cook until soft. Add the garlic, thyme, and stock and bring to a low boil, then add the parsley and romaine. Cook for 5 minutes and remove to cool for a few minutes.
In two batches, puree the soup in a blender ( it's HOT - be careful!). The immersion blender didn't work well, because the parsley and lettuce were undercooked, and too rough for the immersion stick.
Stir in the dill, a little salt ( you can add more just before serving, if needed), and pepper, and chill for at least an hour.
Garnish with violas, mint, or, if your sugar snaps are blooming - a little pea blossom.
Hope you're enjoying your summer!



8 comments:

Martha said...

I love chilled green soups -- this looks yummy!

Kalyn Denny said...

I love parsley, so I'm intrigued by this soup!

katrina said...

Martha - that doesn't surprise me! You and I seem to share so many food likes! I think you'll like this...

katrina said...

Hi Kalyn! As you see, I also love parsley, and what I like about this soup is its simplicity, of course, but also a smooth, subtle flavor, that is somehow both robust, but gentle.

Marianne said...

Lovely soup and lovely photos, Katrina. The color is marvelous!

katrina said...

Thanks, Marianne! It's a lovely soup, and one I'll be making a lot this summer! I can see it being paired with a handful of shrimp, or chicken salad, or even a mayo free potato salad. Yum, yum.

Jane said...

Have you left facebook? There is no sign of you anywhere! Comeback!!

katrina said...

Jane, I have. Too many other commitments I've been slacking on, which made my brain super confused and ever so slightly (!) stressed. Keeping up with six other pages/groups is just too overwhelming. Hope you stay in touch, though, via old fashioned email!