Artichoke Soup with Fresh Mint

If you want a Kermit colored deliciously fresh soup, look no further. (Although Jim said it looked like mashed peas and baby Gerber food).  I always see the first 5 minutes of At Home with Giada after the Barefoot Contessa. The other day she started making artichoke soup. As a lover of Spinach Artichoke Dip, I thought this sounded perfect. And it was. Except that I couldn't find frozen artichoke hearts at Jewel. Then I couldn't find them at Fresh Market. But FM did have whole artichokes. So I went home and attempted to extract the hearts. How hard could it be right? Wrong. I don't know how the Evil Queen from Once Upon a Time does it, because I could NOT get the stupid hearts out. After I was covered in the fuzzy insides of the artichoke, I gave up. I did a quick google search of what artichoke hearts looked like, I saw a bag with a Trader Joe's label. I hopped in the car, rocked out to some Wings and headed out to Trader Joe's and there they were. Right in the frozen food section. FM, Jewel, you lose this round. All hail Trader Joe's!

As far as the nutritional value of this bright green soup, according to the ever reliable Wikipedia, artichokes are high in antioxidants and are excellent diuretics. Plus spinach is nutrition magic.  I decided to put eat sourdough bread with the soup. But the soup was so savory and lemony that the sourdough bread was too much. If you don't really like lemon, don't put the lemon juice on. And make sure you stir the lemon into the soup. The madre came up and stuck a spoon in the soup immediately after I squeezed the lemon. I wish I had the camera ready so I could have gotten a picture of that pucker face.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, plus extra, as needed
• One 12-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
• 1 packed cup fresh spinach (about 1 ounce)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
• Lemon wedges

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery, onion, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Cook the vegetables until just tender, about 4 minutes. 

2. Add 2 cups broth and the artichoke hearts and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the artichoke hearts are tender, about 12 minutes.

3. Put 1 cup of soup in blender, and blend until smooth. Keep adding 1 cup to the blender and blending until smooth. Add the spinach and chopped mint with the last cup. Return the puree to the same saucepan. Mix in the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Warm over low heat, thinning with the additional broth by 1/4 cupfuls if the soup is too thick. Ladle the soup into bowls. Squeeze a lemon wedge over each bowl of soup before serving.

Katie's Notes: This recipe is pretty straightforward. Serve with your favorite bread!