Tuesday, May 12, 2009

lunch time! summer pea and spinach soup

i love martha stewart. i have always loved her. many young women who strive to be domestic godesses seem to reject the structure and poise that embodies martha stewart. they identify more with people like nigella lawson who breaks almost all the rules in the kitchen and rarely follows a strict recipe. she is the anti-martha and young women who feel shackled by the rules and regulations of the martha stewart era embrace nigella with a sense of power and determination that i've never really understood.

the thing is, martha stewart is so many good things - she worked her way to the top on her own, turning what she learned during her undergraduate degree into a multi-billion dollar business. she is a wonderful teacher, an exceptional role model for young women (except for that whole blackmail/stock fraud/jail thing), and a real, true inspiration. in fact, the whole scandal thing has made her all the more endearing to me because she has proven that successful people can make huge mistakes, suffer through months of very public embarrassment and still come out standing on top. people seem to think that she takes herself too seriously and that she follows the rules to the T, but anyone who has ever really stopped to watch martha will realize that she is just a strong woman who finds humour in the silly things that men do, who really honestly wants to make cakes that look like gardens because she thinks they're cute and she has fun doing it, and who love, love, loves her animals. she also really loved her mom, which i love. her little polish mother was always featured on the original Martha Stewart Living show and after her death in 2007, it's so obvious how much martha misses her presence in general, and on the Martha show.

i frequent marthastewart.com often for ideas and recipes. she had some really great easter ideas that i only discovered the day after easter. take these chocolate easter eggs for example. i wish so much that i had seen these earlier so that i could have made them for my sister and impressed the socks off of her. if only. anyway, browsing her website the other day, i came across a recipe for a pea and spinach soup. it was neatly filed under "spring recipes" and the photgraph on the website made me think of the sunny, warm days of spring that lie ahead. i rushed home to make the soup right away; i didn't follow the recipe exactly but i must say that whatever it was i concocted turned out really, really well. and green.


Summer Pea and Spinach Soup (adapted from Martha Stewart Living)

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2-3 cups vegetable stock (depending on how thick you want it)
1 pound frozen summer peas (about 1 cup)
8 ounces spinach (curly or flat leaf), tough stems discarded (about 6 cups packed leaves)

heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. add onion, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper. cook, stirring, 3 minutes. add stock, and bring to a boil.

add peas, and return to a boil. reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until peas are tender and bright green, 2 to 3 minutes. stir in spinach. cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach has wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.



remove a few big spoonfuls of the soup and reserve. with an immersion blender, puree the rest of the soup and until smooth, adding enough water to achieve desired consistency. stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.

when i took the soup to work with me for lunch, i added a few tablespoons of cooked brown rice. it was delicious and it really felt like i was eating spring in a bowl.

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