The Perpetual Feast

Every St. Patrick’s Day I fall prey to the desire to make corned beef and cabbage. I choose a nice corned beef brisket and set to the task of cooking it.  Despite the fact that I cut away all visible fat, and simmer and drain it several times, it is still greasy – and I inevitably get sick from eating it. It also never tastes as good as I remember it from my mother’s kitchen.

So this year I decided to make something a little healthier. I suppose this recipe, originally from American Profile, is “Leprechaun” because of its green color, and the corn represents the leprechaun’s gold, although I prefer my gold in 24 karat bars. No leprechauns were damaged in its making.

The soup is rather light, more of an appetizer  than a meal soup, although with a nice wedge of Irish soda bread it would make a nice lunch.  This also gave me a chance to use the new toy I got myself for Christmas – a mighty  immersion blender.  I plan to do a lot more with it in the future.

Leprechaun Soup

3 tablespoons butter
1 (10-ounce) package frozen green peas, thawed (They seem to only have 16 ounce packages of frozen peas now, so I weighed out 10 ounces from the bag.)
1 medium head Boston lettuce, chopped (I used the remains of a bag of butter lettuce – which had a few leaves of red butter lettuce in it)
4 green onions, chopped (green and white parts)
5 cups lower-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 (15-ounce) can corn kernels, drained
1/4 teaspoon salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
Non-fat sour cream

Melt butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add peas, lettuce and green onions. Cook until onions are translucent, stirring frequently.

Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until peas are tender, about 8 minutes. Working in 1-cup batches, purée mixture in a blender. Return puréed mixture to the pan. (Otherwise, stick your immersion blender in the pan and whirl away – it’s much easier.) Add corn and cook over medium-high heat 2 to 3 minutes, until thoroughly heated. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into individual serving bowls and top each serving with a tablespoon or so of  sour cream. Makes 5 servings at about 6.5 grams of fat/serving.

I forgot to put in the dollop of sour cream before I took the photo – and we all know that everything is better with a dollop of sour cream.