Summer Green Soup for Superfreaks

Tonight's soup was thrown together based upon what I had on hand, which was mostly green stuff - broccoli, asparagus, frozen peas, and fresh zucchini from my neighbor's garden.

When I got in from running errands this afternoon, Miss NoNo had the stereo cranked with a really cool 70's funk compilation, featuring lots of great music by the likes of the Gap Band, Rick James, and so many more. This was about all I needed to get myself inspired to create something that would make me forget about the fowl mood I had previously been swimming in.

The soup was created by first plopping a couple of spoonfuls of clarified butter into the pot, and then slowly sauteing one diced medium sized onion over medium-low heat until it started to become nice and golden brown.

In the meantime, I peeled two medium russet potatoes and coarsely chopped them. I also coarsely chopped three cloves of garlic, three ribs of celery, two zucchini, one medium sized bunch of broccoli, and a half a bunch of asparagus.

Once the onions were nice & brown, I added the garlic to the pot and stirred for a couple minutes. Next, the celery and potatoes joined the party in the pot and were sauteed for another ten minutes or so until they started to soften. After that, in went the zucchini, asparagus and broccoli, plus a smattering of frozen peas that had been sitting around feeling lonely in the freezer. I added enough water to cover it all, plus a little dollop of tomato paste, and brought the heat up to get it boiling, then turned it down to a simmer and let it all mingle for another ten minutes or so with the lid on the pot, till everything was more or less done.











Next, it was time to practice patience while the soup sat on a cooling rack in the kitchen cooling down. What better way to pass the time but to turn the stereo up louder and take a luxurious shower? Worked for me!

It was now time to puree the soup, pour it back into the pan, and season with a little dried oregano, dill and thyme, add a couple generous splashes of half & half, plus one generous tablespoon of pesto. After all, the soup's theme was green, and I just happened to have the pesto lying around.







Finally, it was time to serve the soup, and I also happened to have sour cream in the fridge, a dollop of which was added to the bowl and then swirled into the green goodness. If I'd had fresh herbs, they would've no doubt made an appearance, but sometimes you've just gotta work with what you've got on hand and if you're lucky, everything works out beautifully.