Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Swiss Chard Cilantro Soup by Colleen Guenther (with some inspiration)

You may be scratching your head thinking, why the heck is Recipe Co-op posting a soup in this heat?  Well, it's simple. I've turned on the air conditioning and it's all of a sudden soup season, inside;) The inspiration came from Surdyk's Cheese shop in NE Mpls. They had a very similar soup today in the deli and it was so delicious that I had to take a stab at it. BTW, Surdyks has an amazing deli if you have not tried it. The soups, in particular, are amazing and the flavors are always different than your average choice of tomato or chicken noodle.... Actually, if they had a tomato or chicken noodle soup, you can bet that it is the best you've ever had.

I went online to see if there was a recipe for a similar soup and came across this one from http://www.kilpatrickfamilyfarm.com. Apparently it is from the recipe book “Vegetable Literacy” by Deborah Madison. What I loved about this soup is the complexity of spices. I hardly ever cook with Coriander but love when I can experiment with different ingredients and seasonings to widen my base of fantastic flavor profile pairings. I also added a lot more heat be adding some jalapenos and cayenne  to the mix to kick up the spice factor along with garlic and a titch more cumin to add a bit more complexity. I was in the mood for a Mexican-y dinner tonight anyways.

Well, if it's too hot outside, and inside, to make this delicious soup now, definitely save this recipe and try it out another time, you won't regret it.



What You Need:

2 bunches of Swiss Chard (de-stememd, washed and chopped)
2 TBS Olive Oil
1 Onion diced
1 russet potato peeled and diced
1 Jalapeno minced
2 TBS tomato paste
2 TSP Cumin
1 TSP Coriander
1 bunch of cilantro
3 cloves garlic minced
2 pinches of Cayenne
Salt and Black Pepper to taste
Sour Cream as a topper
Juice of a lime

Directions:

Heat your olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat, then, add your diced onions, potatoes, carrots and garlic. Stir those around for about 5 minutes. Then, add your tomato paste, coriander, jalapeno, cumin, cilantro, cayenne and swiss chard along with a dash of salt. Mix those around for a couple of minutes and until the swiss chard leaves tame down a bit. Then, add 5 cups of water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, simmer until your potatoes are soft (around 15-20 minutes). Then, with an immersion blender, blend about 1/2 of the soup leaving some "texture" left in the soup. When done, ladle soup in a soup bowl and top with a dollop of sour cream and small squeeze of a lime. ENJOY!

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