Lettuce Soup

Makes 4 to 6 servings

An elegant soup with a haphazard origin story. Everything that’s in this soup — a couple of heads of lettuce, scallions, celery, garlic and a few herbs — was meant to be in a salad to go with some seared scallops. It was going to be lunch on the deck and it was meant to be quick, easy and light. And then two more people showed up and I had to scramble to find a way to stretch what I had. Soup! The ultimate stretcher. A half hour of heat, a good spin in the blender and I was saved. I poured the soup into wide shallow bowls, cut the scallops into quarters (so they’d look more abundant), opened some wine and set out some bread. What was a scramble is now a summer go-to.

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 fat scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
• 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced or chopped, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 celery stalk, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 to 3 garlic cloves (to taste), germ removed (see sidebar) and thinly sliced
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper, preferably white
• 2 sprigs fresh parsley
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 4 cups (960 ml) chicken or vegetable broth or water
• 1 head romaine lettuce, trimmed and thinly sliced crosswise
• 1 head Boston (or butter) lettuce, trimmed and sliced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
• Freshly squeezed juice of ½ lemon
• Optional add-ins (see Choices, below)

Working Ahead

The soup can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 3 days in a tightly covered container. You can reheat it gently (the color will be better if you don’t cover the pot) or serve it chilled.

Working in a Dutch oven or large saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the scallions, shallots, onion, celery and garlic, season with salt and pepper and stir to coat the vegetables with butter. Toss in the parsley and thyme and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables soften, 10 to 15 minutes.

Pour in the broth or water and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer, partially cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the lid, stir in the romaine and Boston lettuce and cook, uncovered, for 3 minutes, or just until the lettuce is wilted. Remove the pot from the heat, pull out the sprigs of parsley and thyme and stir in the mint.

Using a blender, standard or handheld (immersion), or a food processor, and working in batches, whir the soup until you have a very smooth puree. Taste for salt and pepper and add the lemon juice before serving.

Serve the soup while it’s steaming hot, or allow it to cool, refrigerate and serve chilled. If you want to add seafood, divide it among the soup plates and pour over the hot soup. If you’ve chosen to add ravioli, cook them before adding to the soup.

 

Choices: Scallops would make this a meal, but the soup can be served as a starter with just a few croutons, a sprinkling of cheese, a dollop of plain Greek yogurt or a drizzle of pesto or olive oil. It can also be chilled and served in glasses, to be sipped rather than spooned. And it is equally good with shrimp or cooked mini ravioli.