Inspiration Nation.

Orangette posted a Spinach and Green Garlic Soup yesterday that just killed me. I was so jealous over the availability of green garlic. I have never seen it in Nashville, though I have not been the the farmers market this season nor have I accosted the produce people at Whole Foods. So an visit from Cousin prompted me to try a modification of the soup with available ingredients. I substituted garlic confit for the green garlic, figuring that the mildness of the confit would not be over poweringly "garlicy" like fresh garlic would. Home blanched, frozen spinach stood in for the fresh that she used. The final substitution was the oil from the confit for her butter and olive oil.

Considering that I have no idea what green garlic tastes or smells like, I went easy on the confit to start. Five cloves and 1 1/2 tbsp of highly flavored oil was the base.

Rather pedestrian photo don't you think? That garlic sautéed for about 5 minutes over medium heat... (I didn't take its temperature as I would like to, to give you an accurate heat value, due to a lack of infrared thermometers) I defrosted the spinach for 5 minutes in the microwave and ran through it with my santoku, giving it a rough chop. I added it to the now mashed up garlic then covered with most of a carton (I know, I know... Thou shalt not use commercial broth) chicken broth.

It is sooo very very green... Almost scarily so.

I brought this to a boil to insure that the spinach was completely thawed then reduced to a simmer. While the base was gurgling to itself in the pot, I used the remaining 1/2 cup of broth, brought to a boil, to quick defrost some herb gnocchi. A 3 minute bath is all they got, and it may have been too much. I sautéed them in a little browned Amish Roll Butter with some fresh green onions.

Orangette used a blender to puree her soup, but because I have one and I like to use it, (it makes me feel all chefy like) I used the stick blender.

 

Crème fraîche finished the soup and I served it up topped with the gnocchi and some lightly toasted sourdough and roll butter.

Orangette said "It tasted, I thought, the way the color green would probably taste if you could soften it in butter, purée it with stock, and serve it in a bowl."

I would love to be able to compare the two or even just try hers. This inspired version was one for the book, even though it is so shockingly green that it resembled "puree o' lawn clippings". Green food not leaf shaped tends to worry me, but Cousin and I enjoyed the soup to the bottoms of our bowls and maybe the bottoms of our souls.

Cheers

Chris