FABULISH!A drizzly day in the organic garden at San Domenico School didn't keep the 9th grade girls out of the kitchen!
The girls spent a wet day gleaning the gardens of Star Route Farms in Bolinas, then returning with gorgeous cases of red & yellow chard and baby kale. They continued to forage the school garden, with their trusty PreK assistant, Milan. They all returned bearing gifts of leeks and assorted herbs. Along with a few simple ingredients that I brought along, we were looking at the makings of a fine soup! Those who didn't forage, washed their ingredients meticulously, then all went to a post of either julienning the greens, slicing the leeks, de-stemming the herbs, or grating the Parmigiano-Reggiano. When all jobs were completed, we all gathered around Chez San Domenico (just a really cool island in the middle of the garden with a propane stove and electricity!) We made a simple pesto out of gathered Italian parsley, Curly parsley, Sage & Savory, Extra Virgin Olive Oil , the grated parmesan, garlic confit & black pepper. Sorry, no nuts-SD is a nut-free zone. We wizzed it up in the RoboCoupe and set that aside. On our stove we did 2 large pans, since we were making soup for 25 people and fast, normally it would be done in one big pot! Mr. Mello, a Sophmore teacher, was along for the class and he was in awe of all the goings on in the kitchen! The girls set upon melting butter and sauteed the leeks in one pan and then some olive oil in the other to saute the chard/kale combo. We deglazed both pots with water (a few Veggies were among us-but no matter!) and brought them to a slow boil. The leek broth simmered first and to that we added a package of potato gnocchi and brought that back up for a few minutes. We then added the 2 pots together, stirred in our wonderful pesto, adjusted for salt & pepper and soup was served! Literally from start to finish, this soup took 30 minutes and the gals were ready for something to warm them up-even Milan was in line for her soup! I will post the recipe next, since you got the prepartion above, but there are a few additions that I made when I made the soup for my family just hours later. My husband is NOT a vegetarian, so we added Italian sausage, diced tomatoes, red chile flakes and store bought pesto (15 minutes it took me!). This was Slow Food that is FAST! Enjoy with some hot crusty bread. Thanks to Shelley Flint, the campus Sustainability Director, for arranging a wonderful day together! Ciao Bella!
Chard Soup
1 head of Chard, julienne
2 leeks, finely sliced
2 T butter (or olive oil)
1/2 pound Italian sausage (optional)
(saute everything together)
4 c. Chicken stock or water
4 Roma tomatoes, diced or 1 can diced tomatoes) (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
(deglaze)
1 package of potato gnocchi
(bring to boil)
1/2 c prepared pesto or see recipe below
1 T red chile flakes (optional)
(stir into soup, maybe use more or less to taste)
Serve and Enjoy!
Pesto
2 cups assorted herbs (basil, parsley, sage, savory or any combo)
2 cups grated Parmesan
1/2 cup garlic confit ( garlic and olive oil that have been simmered together for 5 minutes) or 1/4 c raw garlic
1 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil
1/2 cup water to thin, if necessary (more or less)
1 cup nuts (optional) (pinenuts, almonds, pistachios, anything!)
2 T black pepper.
Put into a Cuisinart or blender and blend until smooth
