Cream of Spinach Soup

I know what you're thinking. Oh no, not more soup. We're so tired of soup. You're probably also wondering why my counter tops match my soup. I'll tell you why: the 70s, that's why.

Anyway, I love soup. I made this very soup twice last week. The exact same soup. Twice in one week. It's strange, I know. But if I still had some left, I'd gobble it up right now. This is good soup. It is soup that Popeye would approve of.

And it has a secret ingredient. I love secret ingredients, although I am usually disappointed. I'm always strangely let down when the secret ingredient in recipes turns out to be some kind of food. I always want it to be nuclear waste or pencil erasers or something totally shocking. So, basically what I've done here is build up my own big reveal, only to spoil it. Because, as usual, the secret ingredient is not nuclear waste. It's cream of coconut, okay? But still, it's a little bit unexpected, right?

You'd be surprised though. The coconut cream and the spinach work really well together. The sweet, slightly nutty coconut cream thickens up the soup and makes it taste and smell really, well, the only word I can think of is cozy. And warm. How surprising, soup that tastes cozy and warm! I'll try to think of some better adjectives. And the bright green color reminds you that you are totally eating your vegetables.

Because I am silly, I spent about 30 minutes carefully cutting the stems off of eleventy billion little spinach leaves, only to later realize that it's infinitely faster to just snap off the stems with your fingers. I don't know what I was thinking.

Through the magic of photography, I have documented the magic of spinach wilting. (I know! I can't believe it either! I took some cooking shots!) Look how in the first picture the pot is overflowing with spinach. Fast forward 10 minutes and look! it's just a teeny bit of spinach sitting there on the bottom. Magical.



Cream of Spinach Soup
Adapted from The Ultimate Soup Bible. I'm noticing that a lot of my cookbooks have crazy superlative titles. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 lbs. (about 2 bunches) fresh spinach, stems removed, chopped
5 c. vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup cream of coconut (available in most Asian grocery stores)
sprinkle of nutmeg
1 cup half and half
salt and pepper, to taste

In large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add onion and saute until soft. Add spinach to the pot. Cover and reduce heat. Allow to cook about 10 minutes, until the spinach is wilted and reduced.

Pour the spinach and onions into a blender or food processor. Add a little bit of the stock to help it blend. (You could also use an emulsion blender and just keep it all in the pot.) Blend until smooth.

Return the mixture to the pot along with the rest of the stock and the cream of coconut. Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 minutes to thicken. Stir in half and half. Heat through, but don't let it boil. Serve!