Lettuce Soup

Lettuce soup- lemme tell ya. Maybe you have your own garden, you planted waaaaaaay too many beautiful, leafy lettuces, and now you have eaten as much salad as you possibly can...  maybe you belong to a veggie co-op, and every week you get at least two heads of lettuce... maybe you just like surprising the fam at dinner time with something totally outside the box. No matter the reason, you have got to try this one out.

How to flesh out a dinner with the star being a big, vibrant, steaming bowl of emerald lettuce soup? How about a deconstructed BLT night? Lettuce soup with crumbled bacon, tomato and mozzarella salad, and garlic toast! Give it a try, and trust me, it'll be a hit.

Courtney's Lettuce Soup

Makes enough to easily feed 8

1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped

3 big cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

1-2 TBS good olive oil

1 rib celery, leaves included

4-5 small-ish peeled russet potatoes

1 liter good chicken stock

2 heads green lettuce, any variety (the darker the green, the higher the nutrition, FYI)

salt to taste

1/2 & 1/2, heavy cream, kefir, yogurt, or aioli for garnish

crisped bacon, for garnish

In a large stock pot on medium-high heat, saute onions, garlic, and celery in olive oil with a pinch of salt. When
onions start to get soft, add peeled, chunked potatoes. Cover with chicken stock and bring up to a boil.

While potatoes are softening, chop lettuce, wash thoroughly, and dry as much as possible. Try to avoid adding any extra moisture to your soup... I used a salad spinner to get rid of extra water clinging to leaves.

When potato chunks can easily be smashed with the back of a spoon, add lettuce.

It may seem like you have way too much lettuce, and you may
even have to add it in batches to keep it from overflowing the
pot... but trust me, it'll cook waaaaaay down.

Once all lettuce is wilted but still bright green (it will happen very quickly, don't overcook or you'll end up with
a dull, avocado-green soup!), remove from heat.

Puree lettuce and potato mixture in batches in blender. Make sure
you don't have a tight-fitting lid, or you've removed the center of the
lid to allow for steam to escape. Use a dishtowel to cover blender.

Once pureed, it's basically ready, but you can return it to the pot and keep it warm on your lowest heat setting (don't forget overcooking it will make it lose it's vibrant green color). Serve with a drizzle of cream and a sprinkling of bacon.

At my house, lettuce soup is the best way for me to get my kiddos to eat those leafy greens... I've never tried this recipe with more intense greens like spinach and chard, but those are so easily disguised in quiches and omelettes  I'm content to let lettuce shine in this one. 

Enjoy!