Spinach and Feta Soup

I am on a horrible recipe roll. Well, maybe it's not the recipe, but the changes I've been making to them. I wanted to use this blogging experience as an excuse to step out of my rut and make new things. Unfortunately, most things include obscene amounts of butter, oil or heavy cream. I'm not afraid to use these things, in fact I love all of them somewhat intensely...but I usually save them for special things, not everyday soups.

Anyway...on to the soup...which I tried to get the boys to eat by calling it leprechaun soup.

It didn't work.

I think they actually thought it was a little creepy.

Anyway...here we go.

Here are the goods...lots of freshness...a little canned evaporated milk to use in place of the cream.

I diced the potatoes fairly small so they would cook quickly.

blurry celery...oops.

I rough chopped the garlic. I'm going to blend it all at the end so uniform shape is of very little importance.

diced onion

I used all three tablespoons of butter the recipe called for...I wasn't going to use the cream, so I wasn't scared.

toss the potatoes, garlic, celery and onion in with the butter.

After a couple minutes add the stock. You could use vegetable stock to make it vegetarian...I used chicken. Here is another place I strayed from the recipe. It called for 6 cups of stock and a cup of white wine. I didn't have any wine, so I used 7 cups of stock...next time I would just eliminate the extra cup.

when the potatoes are tender add 2 lbs of spinach...I didn't have quite as much as it called for...I should have paid closer attention. I am a horrible recipe follower unless it involves baking.

It looks promising at this point, right?

I blended with my handy emulsion blender.

until it was bright green...

added ground nutmeg...a traditional pairing with creamy things and spinach things...

Here is another of my mistakes...instead of the two cups of cream I added two, 11 ounce cans of fat free evaporated milk. I just wasn't paying attention. Next time I would maybe use 1 cup of evaporated milk and then 1 cup of plain yogurt.

Add a little feta cheese.

toast some pine nuts in a little pan with some salt..watch them, they will burn quickly.

top with a little more feta and the toasted pine nuts. I served with cheesy quick bread.

This soup had so much potential, but I messed it up...deeply.

Spinach and Feta Soup
what I did
3 stalks celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, diced
5 yukon gold potatoes, diced
7 cups broth or stock
20 oz. fresh spinach
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 cans evaporated milk
3 dashes worsteshire sauce
1 cup feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste

what I would do next time
3 stalks celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, diced
7 yukon gold potatoes, diced
6 cups broth or stock
20 oz. fresh spinach
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup milk
1 cup plain yogurt
3 dashes worstershire sauce
1 cup feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste

saute onion, celery, garlic and potatoes for 3 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Simmer until potatoes are soft. Add spinach, then blend until smooth. Add nutmeg, worstershire and cheese.

The soup was good, it was just too thin. It really would have tasted delicious with the heavy cream. I just can't do it.

My children refused to even taste it. I even offered them money.