Cream of Lettuce? You got it. I saw Ricardo make this the other day on his show. He calls it "Choisy Soup". I Google'd high and low and could not find the origins of "Choisy Soup". As well, "choisy" in french is related to "choisir", meaning choose. Lettuce in French is "laitue". So I don't understand the name "Choisy Soup" and I don't know where it comes from. If anyone can advise, please leave a comment.
I decided to make this soup because I made a fatal error in shopping for one and bought a bulk bag of hearts of romaine. What am I going to do with THREE hearts of romaine lettuce? I can barely get through one let alone three! When I saw this odd soup, I thought it would be a good way to use up all that extra lettuce and soup is always nice this time of year, especially when it's vibrant green!
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 cups milk
3 cups vegetable broth
3 cups potatoes, diced
6 cups lettuce, coarsely chopped (I used Romaine)
salt & pepper to taste
sour cream for garnish, optional
1. Heat large saucepan over medium heat. Add butter and onions and cook until onions are tender.
2. Add milk, broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
3. Add lettuce. You may have to do this a bit at a time to fit it all in. Lettuce will quickly reduce by half so you will have lots of room. Stir and continue to heat for a few minutes.
4. Pour soup into a blender and puree until smooth. You could also use an immersion blender in the soup pot. Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl and pour the soup through the strainer, using a spatula to move the soup around the strainer and push it through. Add more salt and pepper as required.
5. Spoon strained soup into bowls. If you'd like, Add back a spoonful or two of the vegetable puree from the strainer. Garnish with sour cream and chopped chives. Can be served hot or cold. (The left over mush might make a nice quiche filling. Will have to investigate.)
Make it vegan by using olive oil instead of butter and non-dairy milk instead of milk.
The real question though - how does the lettuce soup taste? I've seen recipes for lettuce soups before, but never tried them because, well...it just seemed wrong. But I can totally see how it would be a good way of using up lettuce that will otherwise turn to mush in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteIt actually tastes pretty good & very fresh... it tastes more like potato than lettuce. Next time I might try adding spinach too.
ReplyDeleteI love lettuce soup! My favorite is mesclun with a tad of arugula and spinach, but I've done it with romaine hearts as well. (They seem to love being forgotten at the bottom drawer right?) I'll try this recipe next time it hapens!
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