Week Three: Not Quite a Detox Veggie Soup

Confession: I don't detox. I'm not sure I even believe in detoxing, but I do LOVE vegetables and I have been eating like a BEAR preparing for hibernation lately. The cooler weather always sends my hunger into overdrive and I have been pulling long hours since the holiday, which has often meant poor meal decisions. (How many cheesesteaks can a girl eat?)

Over the weekend, I was listening to The Splendid Table, one of my favorite NPR programs. Lynn was interviewing a chef who was talking about making a greens based detox soup. I didn't exactly follow her recipe (to the letter, or really even in spirit), but I kind of liked the results. Check out the end of this post to see the adjustments I would make next time around.

WARNING: This soup definitely has an earthy flavor. If that's not your thing, I get it. I really do. But you should never ever make this soup.

Not Quite a Detox Soup

Fresh Ingredients:
Half a Yellow Onion thinly sliced
Five cloves of garlic smashed
Two inches of ginger cut into coins
One large broccoli crown chopped
One large bunch chard chopped
One bunch kale chopped
Handful of parsley

Pantry Ingredients:
Two cups chicken stock or broth
Three cups water
Extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup milk
Cumin 
Salt
Pepper
Red wine vinegar
Sherry vinegar (optional)

1.) In large soup pot, sweat onions, garlic, and ginger in olive oil until softened.

2.) Add the broccoli, chard, kale, parsley, chicken stock, and water. Bring to a boil and then lower to strong simmer. Let cook until all the vegetables have cooked through and wilted down. (This took about 30 minutes for me.)

3.) Puree mixture until smooth. (I used an immersion blender.) Add milk and blend again. Then season with salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, and cumin. (I just kept slowly adding each of these until it tasted right.)

4.) I served with a drizzle of olive oil, a drizzle of sherry vinegar, and some fresh cracked black pepper. (Another great garnish would probably be a hot sauce. I'm thinking sriracha.)

** If I were to do this over again, I think I might swap out the chard and swap in spinach. Or reduce the amount of chard and increase the broccoli. The chard taste is a touch dominant and it's actually my least favorite veggie of the group. I am also thinking that a touch of plain yogurt might also help the texture of this soup.  

Under all the kale is chard and broccoli!

Everyone in the pot!

All wilted.