Barbara Cooks Risotto

Barbara was visiting us from San Francisco. She doesn’t cook a lot, and wanted to join us in the kitchen. She wanted to pick up some techniques (not that we know that many) and generally participate in the cooking.

Tom had grown some Jerusalem Artichokes in his garden and brought them over. We found a recipe for A New Artichoke Soup in Tender by Nigel Slater. We invited Tom and Scott to join in the dinner since it was from their harvest.

The soup is excellent. By the way it turns out that Jerusalem Artichokes have nothing to do with Jerusalem or Artichokes, it is a part of the daisy family. Who knew? The spinach topping on the soup really gives a nice kick to the recipe.

For the main course we made Sausage and Mushroom Risotto. We love the hearty risotto. Of course, we got the sausage from McCall’s Meat and Fish. The recipe is called Risotto con Luganegh (Risotto with pork sausage) and is from The Cuisine of Venice & Surrounding Northern Regions by Guisti-Lanham Dodi. This is our go to Risotto recipe. It is excellent! It can be found in our blog of: April, 21, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

Tom brought dessert. Another sweet end to a great meal. Barbara graduated from being just a sous-chef.

A new artichoke soup

Tender

Nigel Slater

I have long made a simple artichoke soup by adding the scrubbed tubers to softened onions, pouring over stock, and then simmering until the artichokes fall apart. I often add a little lemon juice, bay leaves, and sometimes a thumb of ginger. I blitz it in the blender, then stir in lots of chopped parsley. Some might introduce cream at this point but I honestly don't think it's necessary. The soup is velvety enough. It has become a staple in this kitchen over the last few winters; its warm nuttiness is always welcome on a steely-skied January day.

Late in the winter of 2008, possibly having had one day too many of what Beth Chatto calls "dustbin-lid skies," I changed the soup's tone by adding a stirring of bright green spinach. As often happens, it came about by accident—a bowl of creamed spinach left over from a boiled ham lunch— added to the soup just to use it up. The magic in this soup is in the marriage of earthy cold-weather food and a shot of mood-lifting chlorophyll. Spring is obviously stirring.

enough for 4 to 6

large leeks — 2

butter - 3 tablespoons

Jerusalem artichokes -1 pound

bay leaves - 2

light stock or water - 4 cups

for the spinach

butter - a thick slice

large spinach leaves — 1 pound

creme fraiche - 2 heaping tablespoons

ground nutmeg

Finely slice the white and palest green part of the leeks, wash thoroughly in plenty of running water, then drain. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the sliced leeks, then let soften over low to medium heat for fifteen to twenty minutes. They need to remain green and white and shouldn't brown at all. I find the easiest way to achieve this is to place a round of wax paper on top of the leeks, followed by the pan lid. A regular stir will help.

 Rinse and coarsely chop the artichokes and add them to the leeks. Continue cooking for a few minutes, then add the bay leaves and stock or water, and bring to the boil. Decrease the heat so that the soup bubbles gently, partially covered. It will take about twenty-five minutes before the artichokes are tender. Blitz the soup in a blender until smooth. I should probably remind you not to overfill the blender container. Pour into a bowl.

Make the spinach cream: Melt the butter in the artichoke pan and add the spinach. Turn it from time to time until it softens. Press the spinach against the side of the pan and drain off the liquid. Do this thoroughly. Transfer to a blender and add the creme fraiche, a tiny pinch of ground nutmeg, and a little salt and blitz.

Warm the artichoke soup (it may be hot enough already if you have worked quickly), spoon into soup bowls, then add a couple of spoonfuls of the spinach to each bowl and mix the two lightly together as you eat.