Cleansing, comforting, there’s nothing like ginger to ease you from last year to next. Restorative and regenerative as opposed to simply sustainable, one of my goals for all things related to the earth. This delicious soup adapted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey is very simple, assembled and cooked in under half an hour.  It gets a bit of a kick from the ginger and chili pepper, which is smoothed out by the spinach and a touch of cream. I normally would have left the cream in the fridge but it actually helped pull the flavors of the soup together. I thought that the dark color green of the soup was really perked up by the bright carrot garnish. I didn’t puree all of the carrots, preferring instead to let some float in the soup.

Spinach and Ginger Soup adapted from Madhur Jaffrey

3 c chicken broth

1 lb bunch of spinach, de-stemmed and well washed

1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

1 large potato, peeled and coarsely chopped

¼ jalapeno pepper, chopped

1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

2 whole cloves

10 black peppercorns

Salt (1 tsp to start)

2-3 tbsp heavy cream

2 tsp lemon juice (optional)

Place all ingredients except the cream and lemon juice in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, and stir to wilt the spinach. Reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer until the carrots and potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.  Puree the soup and return it to the pan. Adjust for salt. Add the cream and lemon juice, if using, and serve hot, garnished with grated carrots.

Categories: Greens, Soup, UncategorizedTags: Ginger in soup