My Grandmother’s Spinach Soup Served with Hard B...
My Grandmother is an excellent cook and I absolutely adore her food! Every meal she prepares is done so with love and care and is always full of the most beautiful flavours. A few years back when my husband and I were visiting Canada, she made this spinach soup and it has been on our minds ever since. I finally got a hold of the recipe and thought this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. It was just as good as I remembered although I did go a tad heavy on the salt. Never mind, next time I will be much more careful!
This soup makes a great lunch or light supper and it can even be used as an elegant starter – although I haven’t quite mastered the art of making a pretty flower out of hard boiled eggs yet (but I will keep working it!)
So here it is Raija’s Spinach Soup.
Ingredients
1 large Spanish onion finely chopped.
350 – 400 grams of fresh spinach well washed.
1 ½ – 2 tsp butter or a drizzle of olive oil (for sweating the onion).
2 Tbsp butter for making a roux.
2 Tbsp flour.
Chicken stock (approx 2 ½ – 3 cups) – I used Vegetable stock for mine.
Double cream.
Pinch of nutmeg.
1 clove minced garlic (optional).
Pinch of white sugar which helps give the soup some smoothness.
4 hard boiled eggs.
Directions
Melt the 1 ½ – 2 tsp or drizzle of olive oil in a pan. Be careful not to let the pan get too hot if you’re using butter as it may burn.
Add the finely chopped onion and mix well. Put a lid on the pot and allow the onion to sweat for a few minutes. Don’t let the onion get any colour. (I read somewhere that adding salt will prevent the onion from colouring and this is where I went wrong with my seasoning – I added too much salt at this stage! – so be careful).
In a second pot heat the spinach carefully – don’t add any water, butter or oil to the pot. The moisture in the spinach will be enough. The spinach should just go very slightly limp.
Once the spinach is just limp remove it from the pot and squeeze out as much excess liquid as you can.
Chop the spinach into small pieces and set aside.
Now it’s time to begin the roux. In another pot melt the 2 Tbsp of butter and then add the flour.
Do not let this mixture turn brown. Keep it on a moderate heat and gradually add the stock.
Mix it well and allow it to cook for approximately 3-5 minutes as you stir continuously.
Add the chopped spinach and onion to this mixture. Allow it to cook gently for another 5 minutes or so.
You can grate some nutmeg into it, or add some minced garlic at this stage. Also a pinch of white sugar will help give the soup some smoothness.
While the soup is cooking you can prepare the hard boiled eggs. Peel them and cut into halves or quarters.
When you just about ready to serve the soup stir in a good drizzle of double cream and mix well.
Serve with some freshly ground black pepper and the hard boiled eggs pieces arranged in the form of a flower.
Enjoy!
Or as my Grandmother would say in Finnish
Nautiskella!
Spinach ready – now it’s time to make the roux!
