Tuesday 24 May 2011

Chilled lettuce and potato soup.

Beautiful red and green lettuces,
 no matter how I try to space out the plantings
there's always a glut at certain times of the year.

I picked two large green ones
 added an onion, chives and a handful of scrubbed new potatoes.
In a large soup pot I sweated off the diced onion and potato,
  the washed and shredded lettuce and chopped chives,
 then cooked it all together until the lettuce wilted.
Then added 2 litres of hot chicken stock before
cooking for another 20 minutes, on a low heat, until the potato was soft.
After seasoning to taste, the ingredients were allowed to cool
 before blending thoroughly.
 I also added 4 large serving spoonsful of creme fraiche at this stage
and then chilled the soup in the fridge.
As it was such a hot day
I decided it would be nice to have lunch in the garden
 and so I set a small table for two, by the wisteria.

I picked wild flowers
 from the grassy banks along the side of the lane.
Comfrey, cow parsley and purple clover and placed them in a large glass pitcher.
Two tall glasses of iced peach tea, a baguette
 eh voilà! déjeuner en plein air.

13 comments:

  1. How lovely! What a gorgeous setting to enjoy your chilled soup. Thanks so much for sharing! The wildflowers are lovely, too. :D

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  2. How delightful! When I have a glut of lettuces (it's inevitable, I'm sure) I'll remember this recipe.

    I'm envious of how advanced your garden is already. And of your hot weather. We ate outdoors yesterday and there was still a chill breeze that gave us goosebumps occasionally.

    The rose you asked about a couple of posts back was from a bouquet purchased by my husband. No roses blooming here for awhile yet.

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  3. What a wonderful spring/summer meal!! I love the wildflower bouquet and the blue checked cloth... That, to me, is absolute perfection!

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  4. I love how few ingredients and how simple this looks.

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  5. Lettuce soup? This is new to me Maggie, but sounds delicious. Your pitcher of wildflowers is so cheerful and the alfresco setting sheer delight. Wish I were there! ~ Sarah

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  6. We have the lettuce but no potatoes, ours failed as did our neighbours this year! We have both replanted so many be later in the year we might try this.

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  7. This all looks so delicious! And dining outdoors, how I look forward to that! Your potager is off and running I see. Hooray for you!

    XO,
    Jane

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  8. What a delicious recipe and I love the setting with the flowers.

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  9. I`ve never tried a lettuce soup - and you make it look so easy.

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  10. This looks like a delicious soup Maggie. Your garden must bring you so much joy. Ours is tilled and ready to plant. I must brave the mosquitoes one of these days but they are so bad this year. The last two nights there was a risk of frost so I had to cover up my deck geranium pots. Oh the joys of northern life!

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  11. I've never cooked letuce so this is a first. It looks good and I have a table full of fresh vegetables bought ath the groen t'scherche (vegetable store) yeaterday waiting for me to tackle today. Your garden setting is beautiful. I'm barely here in Holland. xxoo Jenny

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  12. Oh, wow! Can I come live with you, Maggie?? Sigh......
    How beautiful! the garden, the table setting, the lunch. I love it all.
    And I'm totally inspired by your soup recipe. I've known about adding cabbage, but never heard of adding lettuce. I must be living under a rock. :)

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  13. What a delightful post and setting to match. Your meal is just perfect for the easy days of summer and spring. I hope you have a great weekend. Blessings...Mary

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