It's not easy being green

Green bean soup with butter and chives. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books.

This is my contribution to the #LetsLunch Twitter party. March's theme is Green and since I'm not allowed to write about my Tastes Just Like Chicken Frog Leg Fricasee with Parsley Sauce, I'll submit my second favorite green recipe, for my favorite green bean soup.

Before discovering this green bean soup recipe, I only made green beans one way: cooked to death in pork stock, like any true Southern cook should. This method works very well for the flat, hearty Romano or pole beans that came in the summer. But what about the skinny, delicate beans that are available now? A couple years ago, I discovered a creamy green bean soup recipe, and what a revelation it was, because it combines a technique and a vegetable in a unique way.

The first time I saw the recipe, I thought Blech. Baby food. We don't do those little jars in my house anymore. The kids eat real, whole foods, just like the grownups. Facing an abundance of CSA green beans and knowing that more would be in my near future, I made the soup and now I'm hooked. Try it. And if you think of a clever name to tell the kids, let me know. Both of my girls pronounced the soup delicious, although they weren't crazy about the name "Green Soup."

Green Bean and Vidalia Spring Onion Soup with

Lemon Spring Onion Butter

Lemon Spring Onion Butter

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

One Vidalia spring onion, trimmed, sliced, (whites and a fair portion of the greens)

Fresh juice from half of one lemon

1 small garlic clove

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine first four ingredients in food processor and pulse until combined. Season to taste and set aside for serving.

Soup
Use homemade chicken or vegetable broth, if you have it on hand. Here's my primer for an easy vegetable broth.

2 Spring Vidalia onions

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 pound green beans, trimmed and broken into 2-inch lengths

3 cups vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Freshly ground pepper

Optional: any appropriate herbs that you may have kicking around - tarragon is especially nice. I can imagine that dill would be pleasant. You can never go wrong with chives. Just chop finely and garnish soup before serving.

Very optional: A dairy component such as cream or half-n-half, up to a ½ cup.

1. For the soup, melt butter in a saucepan and cook onion until translucent. Add the beans and cook for about 5 minutes. Add a ½ cup of broth or water to the beans, cover with a lid and let steam until the beans are tender, about 10 minutes. In a separate pan, heat the vegetable broth until very warm. Check on the beans after five minutes to ensure that they are at their brightest when you pull them off the heat. You want a spring green, not a camouflage green.

2. Puree the beans soup in a blender or food processor, taking all necessary precautions because you’re dealing with hot vegetable matter. Gradually add the warm vegetable broth. (I like a rustic puree, but if you're of the silky-smooth texture school, you may want to run the soup through a sieve.) Return pureed soup to the pan and add the cream, if you're using. The dairy is nice, but it mutes flavor and I like my soup intensely green.

3. Find your favorite soup plates and pour out a portion of the soup. Place a spoonful of the lemon butter in the middle of the soup. Makes about 2 reasonable servings.

 Check out the shades of green in the rest of the #LetsLunch posts:

How to Brew a Better Pot of Tea from Grace at HapaMama
Green Chorizo from Felicia at Burnt-Out Baker
Pandan Tapioca from Charissa at Zest Bakery
Natanya’s Guacamole from Lisa at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Notos Pesto from Ellise at Cowgirl Chef
Matcha Green Tea Cupcakes from Cathy at ShowFood Chef

Asparagus with Poached Egg from Karen at Geofooding

Looking for Spring in a Bowl of Soup

T.S. Eliot wrote that April is the cruellest month, a sure sign he was a depressive, according to my freshman English literature professor in her obligatory summary of “The Waste Land.” Eliot grew up in St. Louis and lived much of his life in England, which makes me think that his April is my February in Georgia, and this month is definitely cruel. Just when we see the early signs of spring - Bradford pear trees setting buds and the daffodils sending shoots above the mulch, the cold shuts everything down. I hate to complain - the snow last week was transformative and breathtaking, the fluffy Christmas card kind that settled on trees and tumbled to earth in a shower with each blast of wind.

Snow-covered trees by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

But in this Georgia girl’s heart lurks a Floridian’s tolerance for cold. It’s a sad state of affairs that I look forward to my senior years, dreaming of the days when I can be a snowbird, wintering in Sandestin. I will probably wear knee-hi’s with skirts and hang out with a geezer whose idea of fashion is white socks and black sandals, and I will never be late for the early bird special at Piccadilly Cafeteria. So be it, my toes and my nose will be warm. Blistered, even.

From Autumn through January, I put out the comfort food - hearty stews, homemade chicken and dumplings, day-long braises, sausages, potatoes, but in these remaining winter days, my mood embraces the promise of spring, even if the weatherman on Channel 2 doesn’t. Today, I will make Green Bean Soup with Lemon Butter and serve it with Cheddar crackers. This soup transitions well, from winter to spring and summer to fall. It uses fresh green beans, which can be found in markets year-round, and the Vidalia spring onions that are just starting to appear.

Green bean soup with lemon scallion butter by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Green Bean and Vidalia Spring Onion Soup with

Lemon Spring Onion Butter

Lemon Spring Onion Butter

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
One Vidalia spring onion, trimmed, sliced, (whites and a fair portion of the greens)
Fresh juice from half of one lemon
1 small garlic clove
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine first four ingredients in food processor and pulse until combined. Season to taste and set aside for serving.

Soup

2 Spring Vidalia onions

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 pound green beans, trimmed and broken into 2-inch lengths

3 cups vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Freshly ground pepper

Optional: any appropriate herbs that you may have kicking around - tarragon is especially nice. I can imagine that dill would be pleasant. You can never go wrong with chives. Just chop finely and garnish soup before serving.

Very optional: A dairy component such as cream or half-n-half, up to a ½ cup.

1. For the soup, melt butter in a saucepan and cook onion until translucent. Add the beans and cook for about 5 minutes. Add a ½ cup of broth or water to the beans, cover with a lid and let steam until the beans are tender, about 10 minutes. In a separate pan, heat the vegetable broth until very warm. Check on the beans after five minutes to ensure that they are at their brightest when you pull them off the heat. You want a spring green, not a camouflage green.

2. Puree the beans soup in a blender or food processor, taking all necessary precautions because you’re dealing with hot vegetable matter. Gradually add the warm vegetable broth. (I like a rustic puree, but if you're of the silky-smooth texture school, you may want to run the soup through a sieve.) Return pureed soup to the pan and add the cream, if you're using. The dairy is nice, but it mutes flavor and I like my soup intensely green.

3. Find your favorite soup plates and pour out a portion of the soup. Place a spoonful of the lemon butter in the middle of the soup. Makes about 2 reasonable servings.

This soup is a perfect lunch accompanied by homemade buttermilk biscuits with shavings of good quality ham. In summer, I'd go with a chicken salad sandwich on white bread, cut into triangles. Today, buttery Cheddar crackers are on order, just a wee little nibble to serve with this virtuous soup. Three ingredients - butter, Cheddar cheese and flour, plus a pinch of salt and cayenne, if you’re feeling spunky.

Cheddar crackers by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Cheddar Cheese Crackers

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 375. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse just until mixture comes together to form a dough. Remove work bowl from processor and, using whatever little hands are available, form walnut-sized balls and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet (the slick wrapper from the butter works especially well for this purpose). Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, or until set, but not really brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Don't let them cool too long on the baking sheet or they may stick. When cool, place in a paper-towel-lined airtight container.

Text and images copyright 2010, Lucy Mercer.

Late Summer Supper on the Porch

My deep front porch is made for rainy days. With the gentle storms of the past few days, we sit at our picnic table in the corner of the porch and watch the bird feeder.

Tonight's Menu, recipes can be found elsewhere on this blog:

Green Bean Soup with Scallion Butter: most would think of this as baby food, a rustic puree of green beans cooked with sauteed onions and chicken broth. I make it mostly for myself, although the family will eat small bites and declare it's delicious. It's nourishing and just made for rainy days.

Chicken Slaw: I used up the CSA cabbage and made a giant bowl of this addictive slaw. Dear husband took the last of the shredded chicken and made chicken salad sandwiches with pickle relish for the girls.

Green Bean Soup: Color Me Convinced

Thanksgiving is near and as I reflect on all that I'm thankful for in 2008, things as varied as change coming to the White House, no more diapers, and low gas prices, I must say that joining a CSA program has been a highlight of the year. Each week since May, my kitchen has been filled with fresh, organic produce, provided by Farmers Fresh Food. The glorious summer bags loaded with juicy sweet blueberries and homely but heavenly heirloom tomatoes were bookended with the greens of spring and the greens of fall. Chard and spinach filled the spring bags, while kale, arugula, turnips and lettuces came in the past couple months.

A consistent player throughout the late summer and fall has been the weekly one pound bag of green beans. Before this year, I only made green beans one way: cooked to death in pork stock, like any true Southern cook should. This method works very well for the flat, hearty Romano or pole beans that came in the summer. But what about the skinny, delicate haricots verts that are available now? Here's my latest discovery, and what a revelation it is, because it combines a technique and a vegetable that don't get much play in my house: green beans pureed into a soup. If you're still with me, then you're braver than I. Green bean soup sounds like baby food to me. Blech. We don't do those little jars in my house anymore. The kids eat real, whole foods, just like the grownups.

Facing an abundance of green beans and knowing that more would be in my near future, I made the soup and now I'm hooked. Try it. And if you think of a clever name to tell the kids, let me know. Both of my girls pronounced the soup delicious, although they weren't crazy about the name "Green Soup."

Green Bean Soup with Lemon Scallion Butter

Lemon Scallion Butter

1/2 cup chopped fresh scallions
1/4 cup unsalted butter
grated peel of one lemon
Two tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Soup
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 pounds green beans, trimmed and chopped
4 cups chicken broth, or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 cup cream or half-n-half, optional
Freshly ground pepper

1. To make lemon scallion butter, combine the first five ingredients in blender or food processor until well blended. Set aside.

2. To make the soup, cook the onion in the remaining butter until translucent. Add the beans and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken or vegetable broth and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook until the beans are tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Puree the soup in the blender, food processor or food mill. When using a food processor, I find it easier to remove the green beans from the broth with a slotted spoon and puree them until smooth. Put the pureed beans in a separate pot, adding broth until you get the consistency that you like. Warm the soup over low heat and add the cream, if you're using. The dairy is nice, but it mutes flavor and I like my soup intensely green and lemony.

4. Find your nicest soup plates and pour out a portion of the soup. Place a spoonful of the lemon butter in the middle of the soup. Makes about 4 reasonable servings.

In fall and winter, this soup is perfect with homemade buttermilk biscuits with shavings of good quality ham. In spring, I'd go with a chicken salad sandwich on white bread, cut into triangles.