It’s an artichoke soup day today. We all have them. When everything seemingly happens upside down or backwards. I didn’t realize when I woke up this morning that my day was going to be this way but, that is how the day turned out. I am not saying this is a bad day by any means. It just happens to be a day that is off track, sorta. For days that you are feeling under the weather, it’s always a chicken noodle soup kind of day. So why not an artichoke soup day for that day that just has you in a funk?
Artichoke Soup Wasn’t What I Had Envisioned
Technically, it wasn’t my idea to have an artichoke soup day. It happened as a result of someone else attempting to help me on this wacky day. After a series of odd blunders in the day, I sat down and mentally checked out. One of my son’s caregivers picked up the pieces for me when it came to dinner time. He had already fed my son. But my significant other was starting to sniff around the kitchen and surfing the refrigerator for anything he could devour. The caregiver said, “I’ll take care of it.”
I am thinking this is great. I have that whole crockpot of leftovers in there. He will heat that up and all will be great. This caregiver doesn’t do cooking. Not even three minutes in a microwave. If it isn’t a tv dinner or leftovers to warm up, he doesn’t mess with it. Time went by. Everyone seemingly was fine. Caregiver left. Then I meandered into the kitchen myself with a growling tummy. That’s when I realized what the caregiver had served for dinner.
Creative Thinking for Dinner?
He didn’t scoop up leftovers and zap them. Imagine this, he instead chooses to grab a can of artichoke hearts and dumps the entire contents, juice and all, into a bowl. He adds a bit more water. Heats it up and calls it dinner!
At first, when I discovered this, I was miffed. I bought the artichokes to make artichoke dip for our next gathering of family and friends. Then it hit me, how awful that must have been. Artichokes and water. How funny is that? You know…the right intentions were there. I couldn’t be upset. I reminded myself to be grateful.
Artichoke Soup Inspired
That got me to thinking though. I’ll bet there are some good artichoke soup recipes out there. A creamy parmesan artichoke soup? Hmmm. I decided to look up different recipes and see if I could find one or two recipes to try. It needs to be an easy recipe and it needs to be one I like all the ingredients.
WOW! I found creamy artichoke, lemon artichoke, potato artichoke, and many more. Yes, I also found a creamy parmesan artichoke recipe. It looks scrumptious but it seems like a lot of work; starting with the artichoke. I want something I can throw together easily. Ha ha ha – but not as easy as my friend’s idea of easy.
I am one of those people that like to throw ingredients together and see how it turns out. Therefore, this is my idea of how to make a creamy parmesan artichoke soup. Mind you, nothing measured. Frankly, I hope you are brave enough to try this because as I write this, I haven’t tried it yet. Yep, I am just going to put it out there. (I am still out of artichokes).
Throwing It Together
Here we go! Get out your soup pot. Cross your fingers and go for it. My motto is try it and if you don’t like it, don’t make it again.
Ingredients:
- Just about every soup starts with butter or olive oil – the standard 2 tablespoons. Melt it in the pot on medium to medium high. For me, soup making is a “homing” thing so I cook on medium. Medium low if I am not in a rush. I said I like an easy recipe – it doesn’t have to be fast cooking. Think a rainy day afternoon or a lazy Sunday.
- canned artichoke hearts quartered (not marinated); drained – 2 to 3 cans???
- canned sliced white potatoes (probably about 2 cans); drained and chopped (if you feel like chopping the slices).
- about a half, maybe a little more, diced onion (I can get it already chopped from the store and use about a 1/3 cup – I’m guessing). From past experience, I would say saute these onions in the butter or olive oil until they are translucent first before combining the rest of the ingredients.
- a good squeeze of garlic paste (straight from the tube – I love garlic so I would go with enough to be close to 3 or 4 teaspoons – again, I’m guessing).
- a good glug of white wine (I like using the Chardonnay I get delivered from my wine club and usually will have it on hand – using my pantry).
Adventuring More with a Substitute Ingredient
Here’s where this could get tricky and could go wrong. My pantry never has a parmesan rind. Period. Not that I wouldn’t like one on hand, just that when I have looked before at the store, I couldn’t find one. So, I fall back on the grated parmesan. The one where there must be three open containers at any given time in my refrigerator.
Parmesan will be that rich, nutty, salty flavor so I am going to go out on a limb and dump about half of one of those containers. (I cheated, I looked at the container and it says 8oz). Who knows, I might add a little more than that.
Now, I suppose you could use shredded parmesan. If that were the case, I have heard lightly dusting the cheese with cornstarch or flour helps to thicken a soup or a cheese sauce during cooking.
Making it a Soup
- Broth. You need broth. My go to for soup building is a chicken broth. Although, you could go vegetarian. I usually have a box of broth on hand. The boxes are typically 32 ounces. I would use the whole thing.
- Creaminess. Of course, now we have to make it creamy. And what better way to do that? You know it. Pour in the heavy cream. Sure, you can lighten up with half and half or plain milk. For lactose intolerant, just swap out for soy milk. Should work fine. Whichever you choose, it doesn’t take much. give or take a half a cup.
Spicing It Up
- Salt and pepper. Pepper and salt. To your desire. The parmesan will have saltiness too so don’t hit it too heavy. Taste test until you like it.
- Tarragon. Now, this is one of my favorite herbs to use. It’s an unexpected flavor. People say it has a licorice flavor. Maybe. To me, it is a mild flavor that has a little bit of sweet to it. I’ve used it in other soups and my potato salad and I don’t taste licorice. Others claim there is a hint of vanilla to it too. I don’t pick up on the vanilla either. Give it a try. In my boldness and fondness of tarragon, I am not shy and easily dump 1 to 2 teaspoons to start out. If you are unfamiliar with this herb, start with half a teaspoon. When you adamantly know tarragon is not for you, substitute with basil or thyme or oregano.
- Dilly-dally. One of my other go to herbs is dill. I love dill in my breakfast country potatoes! YUM1 YUM! Because I am adventurous and throwing things together. Add the dill. maybe about half the amount of the tarragon – 1/2 to 1 teaspoon to start. Who am I kidding? Easily, 1 teaspoon. There is always the option of ladling out a taster cup and adding dill to that first to see if it hits that culinary note you like.
The Surprise Finishers
Hot sauce. I use the garlic hot sauce, Tapatio. Just a couple quick splashes. The first time I heard of using this I thought it sounded crazy. Well, I use it with almost all my cream soups now. It’s not hot. You don’t get the heat. But you do get a mellow kick in the back of the bite.
Lemon. Lastly, the squeeze of brightness. Use the fresh-squeezed juice of half a lemon. I definitely prefer the fresh lemon. Yet, I do opt for a couple capfuls of lemon juice from the bottle when I don’t have a lemon on hand. It’s all about the pantry.
To be extra fancy, drizzle olive oil over the top and add a sprig of fresh parsley.
Voila – It’s an Artichoke Soup Day!
Seeing how I have effectively made my own self salivate, it looks like I need to get to the grocery store – STAT! I have everything I need except for the artichokes. Go figure. I even have a baguette I can slice, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with black pepper and bake to a golden crisp.
Oh, and that fine white wine I mentioned earlier? Yep, I have it on hand too. I use my red wines for cooking too. Having it delivered makes it easy and handy. Check out my wine club here.
Final Note
My guess is this serves probably 4 to 6 people. More than likely, it’s okay to cool and freeze leftovers. At the end of the day, this seems like the perfect soup for one of those upside down, backward, wacky days. On a rainy day, curl up with a big soup cup of this and a blanket wearing fuzzy socks and lose yourself in the moment. Enjoy!
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