IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

                        

My local library is proving to be a relief to monolithic burden on my wallet caused by my addiction to ink on paper. I joined about four years ago and it was there that I was introduced to Nigel Slater's Appetite and Claudia Roden's unparalleled Book of Jewish Food. Of course, I have gone on to buy some of the books I discovered, the problem with the library is that they do, eventually, want their books back, so some damage is still being done. And do you know they also have shelves and shelves full of books with no recipes or pictures of food in them, just words that combine to make a story?! I have found it all too hard of late to make the time to feed my literary cravings, so for every cookbook I borrow I try to find a novel by someone I have not read before. This plan backfires occasionally by introducing me to an author who becomes an addiction in their own right.  So it is that, over the past few months, I have found myself on a whole new, determined, quest to read the entire bibliography of J.M. Coetzee's writings. I have come to him rather late and there is an extensive body of work for me to catch up on but to be honest I would probably read the mans shopping list so it's not proving to be a very heavy burden. But, on to the more pressing matter of physical hunger.

I'm sticking with my vegetable antidotes for now, so the most recent book I borrowed was Tamsin Day Lewis' Simply the Best. Her books are happily a combination between food and literature. Daughter of the Irish poet Cecil Day-Lewis ( and of course her brother is Daniel Day-Lewis) she has words running through her veins and her style is prosaic and passionate. Dedicated to eating the best quality produce as possible as seasonally as possible she would probably be happier meeting the pig her pork is to come from before he ends up in her oven. Fruit and vegetables should be eaten when they're ready to be picked from ground and tree, not when they arrive from the far corners of the planet. Though she is earnest almost to a fault at times she doesn't make you feel like a hardened criminal for eating a raspberry in March. I did have to laugh when I was ticking off the ingredients for the soup recipe I chose: spinach; check, potato; check, when it got to the stock she said she used pheasant, now unless you count an old stuffed pheasant in my mothers attic, I fell a little short of the mark here and used vegetable bouillon. If you have pheasant stock to hand I hold you in awe. I was able to scatter a few delicately purple flowers on top, as my rosemary was happily coming into flower.

Quick point about this photo, it is shamelessly inspired by one from Heidi Swanson's, of 101 Cookbooks, new book. I saw the photo on her site and I knew that I wanted to try something similar with these beautiful cups and saucers I have had in my cupboard awaiting their moment of glory. All I needed was something green.

This recipe is Tamasin's take on a spinach soup she ate while in Ballymaloe House in West Cork.

SPINACH & ROSEMARY SOUP

• 675g spinach,washed and tough stalks discarded
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
• 4/5 sprigs of rosemary
• olive oil
• butter
• 1.5 litres of stock, I used vegetable but if you have pheasant handy go right ahead
• salt, pepper and lemon juice

1. Gently cook the potato, onion and three sprigs of finely chopped rosemary in a little olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat. Season. When the vegetables begin to soften and turn translucent, add the stock, bring to the boil, then simmer until potatoes are tender, about ten minutes.
2. Meanwhile strip the rosemary from the remaining two sprigs of rosemary and pound in a pestle and mortar with apinch of salt until well crushed. Pour in a spoonful of olive oil and continue to pound until you have a rosemary infused oil . ( I love using a pestle and mortar, it makes me feel like an alchemist!)
3. Throw the washed spinach, with the water still clinging to it, into a large pan and stir briskly until just wilting about a minute or so. Chop down a bit before putting into the pan with the stock and vegetables. Blitz in the food processor or with a stick blender. Return to the pan and heat until just at boiling point, squeeze in the juice of about half a lemon. Stir in the rosemary oil off the heat (I saved a little to drizzle on top), don't season until this point as there is salt in the rosemary oil and it is all too easy to over-season the soup (as I learned). Season to taste and serve.

Serves 8 but is easy to reduce quantities to serve less than this.

Comments

[Lorraine@italianfoodies]

First the fancy cake, then the pasta and now the soup. I think we're hiring at the moment!!! I can put in a good word for you!!

[Lisa]

Awesome picture, Laura!

The soup sounds wonderful as well.. oh how I envy those that can eat most of their food so fresh like that.. where some of us have only a megamart to shop in. Ugh. Thank God for Summer and Farmers' Markets! WOO!

Oh yeah, and I could totally relate to being amazed that there are books out there that have nothing to do with recipes! Amazing, isn't it? hehee I think the furthest I've got in the past year is Anthony Bourdain's books. lol

[Laura]

I heard you were able to sweet talk the owners of La Cucina Lorraine!

Lisa: I love the Anthony too.

[gilly]

Wow, this soup sounds wonderful - and gorgous presentation! Rosemary is one of my favourites...

[Brilynn]

Those bowls are great!

[baking soda]

Amazing pictures! Love the purple shade and the combination with the soup is breathtaking.

[peabody]

The color are so vibrant and fabulous.

[Caroline@Bibliocook]

I'm a fan of that book as well - Tanasin is a great writer, isn't she?