{"id":726,"date":"2014-10-21T15:17:33","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T20:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pcandres.com\/?p=726"},"modified":"2015-11-06T14:38:44","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T20:38:44","slug":"no-bells-all-thistles-artichoke-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=726","title":{"rendered":"No Bells, All Thistles: Artichoke Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fthesoupblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D726&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=true&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;width=450&amp;height=30\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width: 450px; height: 30px;\"><\/iframe><\/div><div id=\"attachment_727\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Artichoke-Art.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-727\" class=\"wp-image-727\" title=\"Artichoke Art\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Artichoke-Art-229x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Artichoke-Art-229x300.jpg 229w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Artichoke-Art-76x100.jpg 76w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Artichoke-Art-782x1024.jpg 782w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-727\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Public Art-ichoke<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I found artichokes priced three for a dollar the other day, and that, without further adornment, was the genesis of this week\u2019s soup.<\/p>\n<p>As someone who claims to do improv in the kitchen, I take inspiration from ingredients I find at the grocery store. Yet because my efforts result in spectacular failures on occasion, price is a consideration.<\/p>\n<p>Gone are the days when I could experiment with someone else\u2019s product. \u00a0To be honest, there never were any days when someone else picked up the tab.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t cook when I lived with my parents or in college and everything I did in cooking school cost me well over ten cents.<\/p>\n<p>So it\u2019s always been on my dime.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why this fundraising dinner we participated in on Saturday was such fun.\u00a0 Not that we didn\u2019t help pay for things, but because it was for several generous donors, cost wasn\u2019t as much of an issue. I am also glad to report that after two weeks of practicing and much more planning, it turned out very well.\u00a0 And yes, I did contribute in a small way\u2014a lot of prep, soup (twice), salad, a dessert and the palate cleanser.<\/p>\n<p>The menu was also fun because almost everything I did came from a recipe. The only thing I made up, the lemon fennel sorbet, never made it to the table. In part because it just didn\u2019t fit but also because the stakes were too high to allow for a lot of improvising.\u00a0 Even some of the recipes had to be redone when the ingredients we chose were too overwhelming.<\/p>\n<p><em>I\u2019m talking about the soup here, acorn squash soup, to be precise. I wound up having to make the recipe twice because I used apple-smoked bacon the first time and the whole thing turned into a bacon soup.\u00a0 It was so strong, the car I used to transport the soup smelled of pork fat for a week. But that was a minor fix.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The great thing about following recipes is that you don\u2019t have to reinvent the wheel every time.\u00a0 You might have to tweak an ingredient here and there, as some of you have no doubt done with my recipes, but the path is pretty clear.\u00a0 And, if the person who wrote the recipe knows what they\u2019re doing (ahem), you wind up learning a lot too\u2014flavor combinations, cooking techniques, presentation ideas, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Does that mean I\u2019m going to start plagiarizing other people\u2019s recipes?\u00a0 No, just that I\u2019m going to look to others for inspiration more often.\u00a0 There are a lot of things I still have to learn. And let\u2019s face it, conjuring soups out of thin air has often landed me in a culinary rut (not the same as a pot hole).\u00a0 Perhaps trying new things will keep that from happening as much.<\/p>\n<p>What I learned about this week was a little thing called a microplane.\u00a0 It\u2019s great for zesting lemons.\u00a0 The same ones I wound up using in the aforementioned Artichoke Soup, which turned out pretty well.\u00a0 I did have a problem with the soup\u2019s consistency at first (It was a little thin.), but when I boiled it down to a more desirable thickness, the artichoke flavor became almost overwhelming.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I threw in the optional goat cheese garnish.<\/p>\n<p>Live and learn.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Artichoke Soup<br \/>\n<\/strong>(serves 8-10)<br \/>\n9 medium artichokes, cleaned and trimmed<br \/>\n\u00bc cup lemon juice<br \/>\n1 T lemon zest<br \/>\n3 quarts vegetable stock<br \/>\nSalt &amp; pepper, to taste<br \/>\n\u00bc inch pats of goat cheese (optional)<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Place artichokes, lemon juice and zest in a large pot filled with the stock.\u00a0 (Note: I cut the artichokes in half to make them fit better.)\u00a0 Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 45-60 minutes, then remove from heat.<\/li>\n<li>Retrieve artichokes from the pot and let cool.<\/li>\n<li>Pull the leaves off of the artichoke, discard the choke (the tough thistle bristles just above the heart), and return the hearts and stems to the pot.<\/li>\n<li>Puree the mixture and cook it down to about half the volume (let your taste buds be your guide here).<\/li>\n<li>Adjust the seasoning and cook through.<\/li>\n<li>(optional) Place a pat of goat cheese in the middle each bowl and ladle the soup over it for service.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Image Credit: Artichokes &amp; Readers Statue at the Wheaton Library. Photo by author.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>I wonder if there are any other edible thistles out there. If there are any you know of, I\u2019d love to hear about them.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be reading <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and<\/span> responding.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I found artichokes priced three for a dollar the other day, and that, without further adornment, was the genesis of this week\u2019s soup. As someone who claims to do improv in the kitchen, I take inspiration from ingredients I find at the grocery store. Yet because my efforts result in spectacular failures on occasion, price [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,15,14,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artichokes","category-cheese","category-no-meat-fish-poultry-dairy-or-any-other-animal-products","category-vegetarian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2233,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions\/2233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}