Lettuce Soup | Everyday Dorie

The ingredients that go into a salad can turn into a soup. That’s the inspiration behind the lettuce soup. Heads of lettuce, scallions, celery, garlic and a few herbs are all it takes to make the lettuce soup to serve four. Here’s the 1-2-3-4 primer in making almost any soup — and the lettuce soup in this space.

1) Start by sweating the aromatics. In Dorie’s recipe, she uses chopped scallions, shallots, onion, celery and garlic. Stir to coat the aromatics with butter until they soften. Dorie also tosses in some extra herbs, which include sprigs of parsley and fresh thyme, to build the aromatic base of the soup. This step takes 10 to 15 minutes.

2) Build the body of the soup with stock and broth. Four cups of chicken or vegetable broth or water serve to build the body of the soup. Bring it to a boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes. I happen to have some homemade stock, putting to work the normally discarded food stuff I keep in the freezer.

These stuff are the bone scraps, spent corn cobs, mushroom stems and vegetable trimmings which harbor masses of flavor. The recycling ecosystem goes into high gear during the summer months when fresh farm produce are plentiful. At the same time, reducing food waste is the priority and organizing principle in my kitchen given the climate challenges.

3) Add the main and defining ingredients. For the lettuce soup, the defining ingredients are sliced romaine lettuce and Boston lettuce. Stir them in the soup base under low heat for about 3 minutes until the lettuce is wilted. Off the heat, stir in some chopped fresh mint. Finally, I use an immersion blender and turn the soup from a brothy to a smooth and creamy consistency.

So far, all works well, except the soup does not take on the vibrant green tone as the one Dorie shows in the book. Who wants a dull-looking soup? To fix that, I add in some brightly colored spinach smoothie, blended in a Vitamix. Hurray, I get the main ingredients, texture and color into a coherent, light and delicious bowl of lettuce soup

4) To top it off, add the garnish. We’ve arrived at the final act and the last-chance to play around with the toppings. Scallops, mini ravioli, a sprinkling of cheese, a dollop of Greek yogurt, a drizzle of pesto are excellent choices. Decision time: do you want the soup hot or chilled?