This soup is sweet, flavorful, easy to make, and impressive.
Fresh artichokes can be intimidating, and pokey - so wield your knife carefully and tackle these amazing little miracles with gusto. A bit of cream, some good chicken stock, and an immersion blender make this fast. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use your regular blender, just be careful blending hot soup - safety first - don't seal the lid tight, put a towel over the hole on top - and only do about 1/3 to 1/2 a blender full at a time!
Creamy Spring Artichoke Soup
Chef: Carrie H.
Recipe type: Soup and Stew
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 leek, white only - sliced and washed well
- 1 clove garlic, minced well
- 6-8 medium artichoke
- 2 cups chicken stock
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ C. Heavy Cream
- Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/creamy-artichoke-soup-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback
Instructions
- Fill a large dutch oven - with about 3" of water and squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon, then throw the whole squeezed lemon halves in the pot.
- Cut the woody tips of the artichoke stems off, also cut the top ⅓ off - a serrated knife works best for this
- Place the artichokes in the dutch oven and cover tightly, bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes until a leave in the tightest part of the choke pulls out easily
- Remove from the dutch oven and pour out the water. Let the artichokes cool for a little bit.
- Once artichokes have cooled, peel off the leaves until you have just the "heart" or the middle piece, cut in half and scoop out the furry "choke" part and discard. YOu'll now have the "meat" of the artichoke, cut this into quarters.
- In yoru empty dutch oven heat 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- Add in Leeks and saute until transparent
- Add in artichokes and garlic and continue to saute until garlic is golden brown
- Cover with chicken stock and simmer for about 20-25 minutes until everything is very soft
- Use your immersion blender to blend the leeks, garlic, and artichokes until smooth. If you don't have an immersion blender, use your regular blender and do this in batches.
- Once all of the soup is blended and smooth, stir in your ½ Cup of heavy cream and heat through
- Serve with a garlic toast crouton and enjoy!
You can also garnish the top of this soup with some blanched asparagus tips for a fancy touch.
