A Soup I'm Kinda Proud Of

No I suppose it's not particularly festive or particularly Americana but towards the end of the week I like to use up what's left in the fridge before I hit the farmer's market and fill up the crisper bins again. This week I seemed to have a lot of lettuce. At the market it just looked so fresh and green and beautiful I couldn't resist. Then I wasn't here to eat it. So, I returned home to a collection of once beautiful lettuces maybe a bit past their prime.
I could do a quick lettuce pesto for the freezer. But I decided on soup. A smooth green puree of lettuce and in this case peas -- I had a handful or so of those left too.
I started a pot with olive oil and butter. When the oil was hot I added in one chopped onion and a couple cloves of minced garlic. I cooked the onion until soft but not colored and added in two russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes, the shelled peas -- probably about 1 cup -- and two heads of lettuce torn into pieces. Normally I would use soft butter lettuces for this type of soup but I only had one butter and a crisp romaine. Because my butter lettuce was a red leaf I worried about the eventual color of my soup so I tossed in a handful of flat leaf parsley for a bit of bright flavor and color. Along with the lettuces I poured in about 4 cups of chicken broth -- for a lighter soup I could have used water. I brought the liquid up to a simmer and allowed the pot to bubble until the potatoes were tender -- about 15 minutes.
While puréeing the soup in the blender I seasoned the mixture with S&P and added in a small handful of basil leaves for more bright color and flavor.
I served this creamy, mildly flavored soup with an assertive arugula pesto (arugula, olive oil, parmesan cheese, lemon juice, almonds, garlic, S&P) -- more salad leaf leftovers -- and garlic flavored cornbread croutons.
Soup for dinner and a cleaner fridge.

A Sign Of Spring

I'm still trying to make dinner all week right from the garden. Tonight, spaghetti with fresh peas, lettuce, and prosciutto.

First I cooked strips of prosciutto (well Jamon Serrano -- that's what we had) in a bit of olive oil until crisp and set them aside. Next I added in a bit more oil and 2 TB of butter and sautéed 1 finely chopped red onion with salt and pepper until tender. I added in shelled fresh peas, roughly chopped butter lettuce, white wine and chicken broth and allowed the mixture to cook for about 5 minute until the lettuce was wilted and the peas were bright green and tender.

I added the vegetables to the cooked, drained pasta (back in the cooking pot) and mixed in a large handful of parmesan cheese, a knob of butter, a splash of the pasta cooking water, and half of the crisped prosciutto. I gave everything a good stir until the pasta was coated with a smooth creamy sauce and served James' dinner garnished with the remaining prosciutto.

James had seconds. I'm holding onto this recipe -- a perfect spring garden dish.