Day 2 - Good Friday "Forager Soup"

Soup. The traditional Good Friday meal.

Add the idea of fresh meatless soup to a recipe Dan found for using such greens as dandelion (we like to be right on the cutting edge of food fashion.) What for thousands of years peasants throughout Europe and North America have known today the New York Times identifies as trendy. We can follow in the muddy Wellington boots of our Irish ancestors and forage for greens such as sorrel or dandelion to chop up into a simple creamed soup for a hot and hearty spring supper. How perfect for Good Friday, when we often eat a simple meatless evening meal.

Now if your lawn yields more turf than dandelions you can substitute mixed spring lettuces, arugula, etc. Or do what Dan did. Buy a bunch of dandelions in the produce department of your local high-end grocers. There's foraging for you.

This was actually pretty fun to make and lower in fat and calories than the original recipe. Instead of cream, we used fat-free half-and-half, and nonfat milk instead of whole. It thickens anyway because diced potatoes starch it up. I don't know which was more fun; arguing over the liability of fat-free half-and-half due to the occurrence of corn syrup in its list of ingredients, or Dan using my blender for the first time and exploding hot soup all over the kitchen.

When we finally sat down to eat I nearly forgot to take a picture. But it was bitterly tasty and made for a nice meal with a nice cheese and crackers, a dish of fresh strawberries, and a sauvignon blanc. I haven't found all my colored pencils yet but even when I do I'm not sure I have one that exactly captures sauvignon blanc anyway. But I'll remember the color of the soup for a long time-something tells me I'll be cleaning it off the kitchen cabinets for weeks to come.