Spinach Soup - General Cooking Principles
Spinach is a surprisingly healthy leafy vegetable. It consists of vitamins B, PP, A, H, C, E. B, as well as beta-carotene, fiber, sugars, proteins, carbohydrates and trace elements (sodium, magnesium, manganese, copper, potassium, phosphorus, selenium, zinc and others). Spinach is a very low-calorie product (only 23 kcal per 100 g). Spinach strengthens blood vessels, normalizes the gastrointestinal tract and removes toxins from the body. Also, the vegetable has an excellent antitumor action.
Spinach soups are prepared according to different principles: they can be mashed or cream soups, green soups or ordinary first courses based on vegetable or meat broth. Pureed spinach soups are prepared using a blender: they chop up pre-cooked spinach leaves with a little water or broth. In the role of additional ingredients for the soup can be: potatoes, carrots, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, greens, mushrooms, cheese, seafood, etc. You can serve spinach soup with cream, hot croutons, greens or grated cheese. Spinach soups are great for baby and diet food.
Spinach Soup - Preparing Food and Dishes
Preparation of products consists primarily in washing, drying and grinding ingredients. Particular attention should be paid to spinach: all the stems are cut, the leaves are sorted out, sorting out fresh from the yellowed and spoiled. Selected leaves are washed thoroughly, you can hold them for half an hour in ice water. Chicken, vegetable or other broth should also be prepared in advance.
From the dishes and other kitchen equipment you will need: a pan, a bowl, a frying pan, a blender, a knife, a cutting board, a colander, a grater, etc. Soup puree is best served in a deep bowl for soup, and the usual - in a deep serving plate.
Spinach soup recipes:
Recipe 1: Spinach Soup
Excellent light spinach soup, which also includes green vegetables, garlic, onions, herbs and seasonings. The dish can be cooked for everyday dinners and served with hot garlic bread. Ingredients Required:
- Frozen spinach - 1 pack;
- 250 g of frozen green beans and Brussels sprouts;
- Half a liter of milk;
- 1 small onion;
- Garlic - 2 cloves;
- A few sprigs of parsley;
- Chili pepper - half;
- Butter - 20 g;
- Flour - 3 tbsp. l .;
- 4 slices of bread;
- Olive oil “Extra Virgin”;
- Salt;
- Freshly ground black pepper.
Preparation Method:
Onion finely shred. Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the onions there for 5 minutes. Then add flour and fry all together for about 5 minutes, stirring slightly. Pour some milk into the pan and whisk everything thoroughly. Then pour the remaining milk and boil until the mixture becomes thick. Then put the spinach in the pan and cook the soup for 10 minutes on low heat. Garlic clean and cut into thin plates. With chili, remove the seeds and cut the pepper into thin half-rings. Parsley finely chopped. Heat the olive oil in a pan and lay out the Brussels sprouts, beans, garlic and chili. Fry vegetables until golden brown, salt, pepper and add chopped parsley. Heat the oven and fry the loaves there. Hot loaves sprinkle with olive oil. Serve spinach soup with loaves of bread, and spread roasted vegetables on top.
Recipe 2: Spinach and Mushroom Soup
Delicious and easy spinach soup with mushrooms. It is best to prepare a dish of fresh forest mushrooms, but, in extreme cases, you can also take champignons. The soup also includes potatoes, onions, garlic, thyme and nutmeg.
Ingredients Required:
- Fresh forest mushrooms - 350 g;
- Fresh spinach - 400 g;
- 1 onion;
- Potatoes - 2 pcs .;
- Clove of garlic;
- Thyme Greens - 1 tbsp. l .;
- Butter - 25 g;
- Nutmeg (ground) - 1 pinch;
- 35% cream - 4 tbsp. l .;
- Salt;
- Ground black pepper.
Preparation Method: Mushrooms are cleaned of forest debris, washed and cut. Peel potatoes and chop finely. Onions and garlic clean and shred. Spinach wash, dry and finely cut. Heat oil in a saucepan and fry chopped onion. Spread mushrooms and garlic, add thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid has evaporated. Then pour 2 and a half cups of boiling water and lay out the potatoes with spinach. Bring soup to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Puriruem the contents of the pan with a blender and pour another 2 and a half cups of boiling water. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Bring soup to a boil and remove the pan from the stove. Serve spinach soup with cream. You can decorate the dish with whole, separately cooked, mushrooms.
Recipe 3: Spinach Soup with Lentils
Lentils - surprisingly useful and protein-rich product. And in combination with spinach it turns out very useful and easy dish. From these two products you can make an excellent first course - spinach soup with lentils.
Ingredients Required:
- By 2 carrots and onions;
- Spinach - 350 g;
- Lentils - 250 g;
- Thinly sliced bacon - 100 g;
- Celery stalks - 2 pcs .;
- Clove of garlic;
- One and a half liters of vegetable broth;
- Sour cream - 4 tbsp. l .;
- Vegetable oil - 30 ml;
- Olive oil - 10-15 ml;
- Sea salt - half a teaspoon.
Preparation Method:
Vegetable broth bring to a boil and boil lentils in it for 20 minutes. Then filter the broth into a separate container. Carrots, garlic and onions clean, finely chop with a knife. From celery stalks we cut the hard parts and cut the celery into small pieces. Fried vegetables are fried in a frying pan heated with vegetable oil. Bring water to a boil, add some salt and boil spinach in it for 2-3 minutes. We grind in a blender roasted vegetables, spinach and 2/3 lentils. Add to the vegetable broth the contents of a blender, the remaining lentils and sour cream. All thoroughly mix and warm the soup. Fry bacon without butter until golden brown and spread on paper napkins to absorb excess fat. Soup is poured into plates, sprinkled with olive oil and spread on each plate 1-2 pieces of bacon.
Recipe 4: Spinach Soup with Shrimps
Delicious, easy and healthy spinach soup. You can experiment and try to replace the shrimp with other seafood, but this option is the best.
Ingredients Required:
- 2 packs of frozen spinach (800 g);
- 50 g butter;
- 5 cloves of garlic;
- 1 onion;
- 1 tbsp. l flour;
- 500 ml of chicken or vegetable broth;
- 500 ml of milk;
- A few drops of tabasco sauce;
- 400 g raw shrimp;
- 2 sprigs of rosemary;
- Salt;
- Pepper;
- Nutmeg;
- Sour cream;
- Olive oil.
Preparation Method:
Shrimp thawed. Onion and 2 cloves of garlic finely shred. Melt a piece of butter in a pan and fry the onion with garlic. Fry over medium heat until golden brown and add flour. All thoroughly mixed. Spread spinach, pour broth and cover the pan with a lid. Heat the spinach for 10 minutes. While we clean the shrimp. Then pour the milk into the pan, salt and cook another 20 minutes. Then we fry the contents of the pan with a blender. Put the pan back on the stove, make the fire minimal. Add a few drops of tabasco, nutmeg and pepper to the soup. If the soup is too thick, you can add some water. Heat olive oil in a pan, put rosemary sprigs and 3 cloves of garlic, slightly crushed by the handle of the knife. After minutes, lay out the shrimp and fry on each side for 30-40 seconds. Spread the spinach soup on plates and add the shrimp, a little sour cream and sprinkle the dish with a few drops of olive oil.
Recipe 5: Spinach Soup with Cheese
Very tasty and healthy spinach soup, designed for many people. Preparation takes very little time.
Ingredients Required:
- 30 ml of olive oil;
- 280 g of spinach;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 4 tbsp. l oils;
- Half onion;
- A quarter cup of flour;
- 5 cups whole milk;
- 2 tsp. salts;
- Half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper;
- Ground black pepper to taste;
- 120 g of cheese.
Preparation Method:
Finely chop the garlic with a knife. Heat the olive oil in the pan. Put the spinach in the pan and fry for a few minutes. Then we put the spinach in a blender and add some water. Furry spinach until smooth. Fry onion in butter in a saucepan. Pour the flour, mix and mix everything thoroughly. Cook for about two minutes. Then pour in the milk, add salt, pepper, and after 5 minutes - pureed spinach. Cook all together for 3-4 minutes, turn off the heat and leave the soup to infuse. We try the soup, if necessary - add spices. Serve with grated cheese and pepper.
Spinach Soup - secrets and tips from the best chefs
In the process of making spinach soup, it is important to bear in mind that spinach has the property of greatly reducing in size during cooking. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the proportions in advance, and it is better to take the plants as much as possible. If you are preparing the usual first dish, and not the cream soup, add spinach to the pan at the very end of cooking. If you use a fleshy stem, you first need to spin the spinach a little, and then immerse it in cold water - this will take away the extra bitterness. Spinach does not like long storage, if nevertheless there is such a need - you can not keep the dish at room temperature, it is better to remove it in the refrigerator overnight.
