SPRING GREENS AND RICE SOUP
Where Soup and Salad Collide
Spring Greens with Rice Soup | Dara O’Brien
By Dara O’Brien
Creative Director, Lake Isle Press
Salad people are strong, healthy, and virtuous. Salad people do yoga. They are generous, even-tempered, and radiate positivity. I admire salad people; they are tops in my book. I am not a salad person.
I am a soup person. It’s not that soup people don’t have good qualities; we do. We are thoughtful. We make things cozy. We are dependable, we are willing to take our time, we aren’t afraid of hard work, and we blend very well. But where salad people are clear, crisp and to the point; soup people tend to be more fluid. We take the fresh ingredients that salad people so ardently respect and turn them to mush.
Soup and salad people stay in their lanes for the most part, but their paths do sometimes converge. For example, salads can be warm or incorporate cooked ingredients like pasta or chicken or roasted veggies; soups can be very thick and chunky and some don’t even have to be cooked.
Spring Greens and Rice Soup is one of those convergence meals. It is essentially a liquefied salad. The recipe is from “Piatto Unico” by Toni Lydecker, published by Lake Isle Press. I made it yesterday, and since I am a soup person, it suited me quite well.
I used two five-ounce bags of greens (one of spring greens and one of baby spinach) which amounted to a little less than the recipe recommends but was enough for me. Half a bunch of asparagus was just right; you don’t get a morsel with every spoonful, but when you do, it’s a tasty little surprise. I used two quarts of low sodium chicken broth to one quart of water for a stock that was flavorful and not too salty. The rice and potatoes subtly thicken the stock and add alternative layers of texture. All of the ingredients meld easily and gently, balanced by a touch of heat piping in from the crushed pepper.
Note that this recipe makes a big pot of soup, so if you are serving just a few people and don’t care to have leftovers, consider cutting it in half. If you do have leftovers, however, they will be delicious; even better, perhaps than when the soup was freshly made.
I don’t quite know how this soup manages to be light and filling at the same time, but it does. Perhaps it’s a result of its salad adjacency. I also do not know why it is so much more pleasurable for me to eat my greens when they are cooked. It could be that cooked foods are a bit more flavorful, more fragrant, and easier to digest. But whatever governs our culinary preferences, you say this about soup people: We like it hot.
SPRING GREENS AND RICE SOUP
Click here for printable recipe.
Makes 6-8 servings.
Prep: 30 Minutes | Cook: 1 hour
I don’t quite know how this soup manages to be light and filling at the same time, but it does. Perhaps it’s a result of its salad adjacency.
INGREDIENTS
12 ounces to 1 pound spring greens such as baby spinach, dandelion greens, watercress, and pansies (choose at least two varieties), washed well, tough stems removed (see Note)
2 cups cleaned, thinly sliced leeks or spring onions (white and tender green parts)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups peeled, medium-diced russet potatoes
3 quarts chicken broth or water, or a mixture
1 cup Carnaroli or Arborio rice
½ bunch asparagus, trimmed, cut into short lengths
1 small hot red pepper, seeded and slivered, or hot red pepper flakes to taste, or freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt or kosher salt
Best-quality extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1 to 1½ cups freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese
PREPARATION
Leaving small leaves whole, thinly slice the spring greens (makes about 10 cups)
Heat a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Combine the leeks and garlic with the olive oil, stirring until coated. Cover the pan and cook, stirring often, until they soften but do not brown, about 10 minutes.
Add the potatoes and cover with broth (if using water, add 1 tablespoon salt). Bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until barely tender. Stir in the rice and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes.
Add the asparagus, hot red pepper, and shredded greens. Season with salt and simmer just until the greens are tender, about 20 minutes.
Serve the soup warm, topping each serving with a thread of olive oil and a sprinkle of cheese. Pass the rest of the cheese at the table.
NOTES
If you want to add pansies to your spring greens mix, buy them from a specialty food store; flowers meant for the garden may have been sprayed with chemicals.
My farmers' market sells bags of "braising greens"—a mix of whatever happens to be ready for market—that are ideal for this soup.
VARIATION
To make a cold-weather version of this soup: For the spring greens, substitute a mixture of mild greens (such as chard and escarole), and bitter greens (such as kale, baby mustard, and turnip greens). In place of the asparagus, cut broccoli crowns or broccoli rabe into bite-size pieces.
Recipe from “PIatto Unico” by Toni Lydecker, Lake Isle Press, 2011
Spring Greens With Rice Soup Recipe
From “Piatto Unico”
by Toni Lydecker, Lake Isle Press, 2011
“As you have no doubt heard and observed, a real Italian meal consists of several courses. Except when it doesn’t.” —Toni Lydecker
A languorous multi-course Italian meal is a traditional and wonderful thing; in this authoritative collection, Toni Lydecker leads us to the simple beauty of the piatto unico or one-course Italian meal. Well-balanced and packed with bold flavors, the piatto unico pairs the rustic simplicity of great Italian cooking with a modern sensibility.
ALSO FROM “PIATTO UNICO”
Couscous Confetti Salad with Tuna Recipe
Herbed Roast Pork Tenderloin with Parsnip Puree Recipe
Orecchiette Al Fumo Recipe
Pot Roast with Porcini and Root Vegetables Recipe
Mountain Salad With Bacon, Fontina, and Sweet-Sour Onions Recipe