Greenest Spring Soup Ever

It is almost summer here: the spring started in February. For one and a half months our countryside property has been turning greener and greener: nettle and starflower plant boomed, and so did the collard greens and parsley in anne’s garden. After every trip to a market in Istanbul, I return with a gigantic bag of green bunches - dill, parsley, cilantro, rocket salad, beet greens, collard greens, baby spinach, scallions and green fresh garlic.

Just like Scroodge McDuck taking a dip in his gold daily, I could be diving into my greens. Which I practically do because I eat more of them than ever: my every meal has a green in it - raw in a salad or as a dressing, cooked in a soup, sauteed or steamed. And being keen on variety I often can’t eat up all the greens I buy. So I found a solution to utilize them - my greenest spring soup ever.

I’ve already mentioned that I feel benevolent about pureed soups: with all the comfort they provide I can’t help feeling like a baby when eating them - no workout for the jars at all. But you can’t deny that such soups are a great way to pack a lot of nutrients in one bowl. I have found a chard soup recipe on Bon Appetit, and I loved how they elevated the humble green with stirring thick yogurt in and crumbling pungent feta cheese over. I used the recipe as an inspiration, and it turned delicious.

But next time I wanted to take out the dairy. No, it’s not like I am taking out more and more things out of my food. I both love Turkish yogurt and ezine cheese, and herbed cheese (or cheesed herbs, depending on my mood) has been one of my favorite go-to börek fillings. But then we can’t ignore that dairy inhibits iron absorption, and iron is a big reason to eat greens: for instance, 100 g parsley contains one third (6.2 mg) of the recommended daily norm of iron consumption for women aged 19-50. Who does not need more iron that helps builds the hemoglobin in the blood that carries oxygen to all of your cells? And if you don’t eat red meat, iron deficiency is a serious concern. That’s why I am so keen on greens! So I wanted to elevate the soup and keep it dairy-free.

I did so with tahini dressing. Tahini is one of my favorite cooking condiments ever. Here in Turkey we can’t live without tahini. We make tahin-permez bread spread that marries the buttery paste of crushed sesame seeds and reduced grape juice. There is no hummus without tahini. Tahini becomes a dip of tarator as you whisk it with thick yogurt, in the south-eastern Turkish fashion. And you can forget out of this world bread rolls if you don’t have the paste at hand.

Tahini compliments the greens well: flavor-wise it gives the creaminess and hence more completeness to the soup. On the nutritional side, sesame seeds are a potent source of both iron and calcium (meaning strong bones). You can digest sesame seeds ground in the paste easier than the whole ones. Plus, tahini is a protein that fortifies your green soup that might seem so light-weighted otherwise. I whisked tahini with freshly squeezed lemon juice and then poured enough water to thin it down.

And still I felt the soup was missing something: a crunch, something to chew and to make you aware that you are eating rather than just gobbling down a liquid soup. Roasted chickpeas! They bring on board more protein and iron plus the substance that the soup was missing. You can roast your own with ease, but for me.. I just picked up a small bag of freshly roasted and still warm chickpeas from the Kadıköy market: they are plain with no oil, no salt, no spice added, and that’s how I like them. I snacked on when will waiting for the tram and then used the rest to garnish the soup.

Greenest Spring Soup Ever

Inspired by Bon Appetit

Every time I eat the soup I admire its completeness: accompanied by the tahini dressing and roasted chickpeas this light green soup turns into a meal on its own.

I tried it with different greens and herbs and yet to find a combination that does not work. Besides chard, my favorite was also a mix of spinach and celery greens: the latter are incredibly fragrant and look a bit like an overgrown parsley. As for the herbs, I used them in every possible combination and often tossed in the leftovers of my morning herb salad (chopped green onions, garlic shots, parsley, mint, dill and arugula) - all with the equally delicious results.

Serves 4

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
3 thick white parts of scallions, finely chopped
2 thick white parts of green fresh garlic, finely chopped
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp finely ground black pepper
400 g chard leaves, finely shredded + its stems finely chopped
3 cups boiling water
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley, including the stems
1/2 cup coarsely chopped dill, including the stems
2 tbsp coarsely chopped mint leaves,
green parts of the used scallions and green fresh garlic, finely chopped

For the tahini dressing:
6 tbsp tahini paste
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
water, enough for the desired thinness
fine sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

roasted chickpeas, for garnish

Directions

Warm up the olive oil in a large cooking pot on a medium heat. Add the white parts of the scallions and green fresh garlic. Season with the ground ginger and black pepper and sweat for a minute, just until the aromas start coming out. Toss in the chard stems and cook for about 3 min to soften: the color of the stems will turn from white to the slightly translucent. Add the shredded chard, pour the boiling water over and season with salt. Bring to a simmer, cover with a lead and cook in a medium heat for 5 minutes, until the chard softens. Then add the chopped parsley, dill, mint and green parts of the scallions and green fresh garlic, cover with a lid and let simmer for 3 min longer for the herbs to cook. Transfer the soup the food processor and pulse until smooth (it will not be very pleasant to get an occasional leave so stir a couple of times for the quality check). Taste and adjust the seasoning, if required.

To make the tahini dressing, whisk the tahini with the lemon juice. As you continue whisking add more water gradually until you reach the desired thinness of the dressing. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Serve the soup drizzled with the tahini dressing and garnished with a generous scoop of the roasted chickpeas.