Green Soup with Ginger

Next up in our week of soups lineup was Green Soup with Ginger, again from 101 Cookbooks. I'll admit that I was a tad skeptical of how this would turn out, it calls for a lot of greens, and three tablespoons of fresh ginger, which seemed like it could easily overpower the soup. Turns out that there was no need to be nervous, I was really pleasantly surprised by this soup. It was very good, with a bright flavor that wasn't overpowered by the ginger at all. Plus, the vivid shade of green made me feel like I was eating virtuously (perhaps because it bore a striking resemblance to a frightening breakfast drink our old uber-healthy roommate used to make - the only difference between the two is that this soup both tastes and smells good....). Bottom line, the soup was unique and different - in a good way - give this recipe a go!

My tweaks to the recipe were as follows. I caramelized the onions first (not in a separate pan - one less thing to wash!), then added 2 cups of veggie broth, the sweet potato (Japanese variety), and the ginger (no leek on hand, so that just got omitted). Once the potato chunks were tender, I added the greens and 1 cup of water (so only used a total of 3 cups of liquid compared to the 6 cups called for in the original recipe. I let the greens cook down a bit, and then blended the soup in batches, finishing with lemon juice and a small dollop of sour cream.

Along with the soup we had taro dip and homemade tortilla chips. The dip was pretty mediocre, I probably wouldn't recommend making it unless you are a big taro fan, or like us, you frequently get taro in your box of veggies and need to come up with new ways to use it. The chips on the other hand were a winner. After making a batch of flour tortillas, cut them into wedges, lightly spray them with olive oil, sprinkle them with salt (or seasonings of your choice), and then crisp them up in the oven (350 F) for about 10 minutes.