Love Erewhon's Mighty Greens Soup? Make This Dupe
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I love the Mighty Green soup at Erewhon, and was determined to make my own version of a greens-packed brothy vegetable soup so I didn’t have to pay $12 for a pint-size serving. The base of the Erewhon soup is vegetable broth. But I don’t love most vegetable broths. They’re usually bland, and the flavor of boxed vegetable broth is just plain weird. So when setting out to make my mightier greens soup, I made a broth from the leafy greens’ stems and spinach. I sauté the stems for a long time, then simmer them, add spinach, puree it all, then pass it through a strainer. It’s a bit of a process, but the work stops there. That rich, flavorful broth is the base into which the greens once connected to those stems — I use kale, spinach, escarole and broccoli — are simmered.
Don’t feel like you’re wedded to the vegetables listed here. Want to add more broccoli? Great idea! Can’t find escarole? Skip it! Soup got too thick? Add more water!
Leafy greens like chard, collards and kale deserve more attention: They’re inexpensive, healthy and at peak flavor in winter.
Cut the last inch or more from the kale and spinach stems and discard the trimmed ends.
Tear the kale and spinach leaves from the stems and set the leaves aside. Chop the stems into 1-inch segments and put them in a large bowl.
Cut off and discard the woody end of the broccoli stem. Cut the crown from the stem and set the crown aside. Chop the remaining stem and add the chopped pieces to the bowl.
Cut off and discard the end of the escarole. Chop the tougher, outer leaves and add them to the bowl with the stems. Set the remaining leaves aside. (If there are any tough, sturdy ribs among these, remove them, chop them and add them to the bowl with the other stems.)
Cut off and discard the root end and darkest green ends from the leek. Cut the leek in half lengthwise, then chop the leek into 1-inch thick pieces. Put the chopped leek pieces in a bowl or sink full of water, swish them around with your hands, and let rest so the dirt falls to the bottom. Drain and repeat until all the dirt has been removed. Set aside.
Make the broth: Heat ¼ cup of the olive oil and onion in a large soup pot over medium heat. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the salt and sauté for 10 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is tender and translucent but not brown; lower the temperature if the onion is browning. Add the garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly so it doesn’t brown. Add the chopped vegetable stems, the tough escarole, the leek, celery and the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the salt, and sauté for 30 minutes, stirring often and adding a splash of water if the pan is dry.
Add 4 quarts of water, increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the vegetables for 30 minutes, adding another quart of water during that time.
While the stems are simmering, chop the broccoli crown into 1-inch pieces. Stack and roll the kale leaves and cut across the roll into 1-inch thick pieces. Cut across each half of escarole into 1-inch-thick pieces. Set aside.
After the stems have simmered for 30 minutes, add the spinach leaves to the pot and simmer for about 5 minutes until they’re wilted. Turn off the heat and allow the soup to cool slightly. Puree the soup in batches in a blender. (Don’t fill the blender more than one-third full or you’ll risk it exploding; the warm liquid will expand when you blend it.) Pour the puree through a strainer, pushing on the solids to extract as much liquid from them as possible and discard the contents of the strainer.
Return the soup to the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the broccoli, kale and escarole, folding them in so they wilt and make room for the remaining leaves. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt. Return the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat so it’s gently simmering. Simmer the soup, stirring the greens occasionally, for 30 minutes, adding more water if the soup needs more broth. Turn off the heat and add more salt to taste.
