If I said Spinach, Feta Cheese and Toasted Pine Nut soup, what would you say?

 This soup is quite deceiving.  When my husband looked at it, his reaction was more like "if you want me to try it, I will..."  Then, when I served it to him, he just couldn't get enough!  The flavor is so different and delicious, I really do hope you will give it a try.  And, don't be shocked at how much spinach it calls for!  I used 3/4 of it.  Here are the ingredients:

3 tbs butter
4 whole cloves of garlic, peeled
1 large Vidalia onion, peeled and diced
3 ribs of celery, diced
4 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks
6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup white wine
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 pounds of fresh spinach leaves (4 bags, approx. 16 oz. each)
2 cups of light cream
1 cup crumbled Feta cheese (reserve about 1/4 cup for garnish)
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (reserve a few for garnish)
4 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

In a big soup pot, I melted the butter, and added the onion, celery, and garlic.  These cooked for about 5 minutes.

 When they were done, I added the potatoes, and cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Now it's time to add the white wine and chicken stock.  Bring it to a boil, then back down to a simmer for about 25-30 minutes, long enough for the potatoes to become tender.

 

 Once the potatoes are just right, you are going to start adding the spinach, one bag at a time.  Once each batch has wilted, add another bag.  (2 pounds of spinach is the equivalent of 4 large bags of spinach!  I used three...I guess I was a little bit chicken about adding the fourth, but honestly, once it wilts down, I probably could and should have used the fourth one!)

Sprinkle in the nutmeg and some salt and pepper.  Now comes the fun part!  If you have a hand blender, use that to blend everything up.  If not, you could always pour it into a food processor or blender, and mix it that way.  

After it is nicely blended, stir in the crumbled Feta cheese and the pine nuts, the cream, and the Worcestershire sauce, and simmer for about 5 more minutes.  When I tasted it, I needed to add a little more nutmeg, salt and pepper.  You will have to decide if it needs anything else.  Ladle it into your bowls and crumble some Feta on top and sprinkle with the pine nuts.

How easy was this?  I'm telling you, I think it took me probably about 45 minutes from start to finish.  If you want to cut back a little more on the time, you can start cooking the potatoes in a separate pot to get them fork tender.

Hopefully "green soup" won't scare you away!  It really is delicious.  Enjoy ~