Aragula Soup

It's almost summer and while we love soup in our family, the weather doesn't really call for a hot steaming soup. In the winter, I make lots of soups. It's an easy dinner to make or throw in the crock pot, and it's a sneaky way of getting the kids to eat vegetables.
Salad is still a big battle with our little one, though I'm hopeful for a turnaround at about 3 1/2 yrs old, just like it happened with my oldest.

The other night though, I got both of them to eat a big bowl of arugula! I found this appetizing recipe in Health magazine and thought I would give it a shot. I ended up adding the juice of a lime to give it a little spunk, and it was simply delicious. The next day, I ate it cold for dinner and added chickpeas in it for protein, and it was just as good. So here is a summer soup you can eat hot or chilled, that will pleasantly surprise your taste buds:

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in  a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add 1 chopped medium onion and 3 chopped garlic cloves; cook until translucent (5 minutes). Stir in 1 tsp cornstarch (I used arrowroot powder instead). Whisk in 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth and 1/2 cup low-fat evaporated milk (I used soy milk or you could use coconut milk or regular milk). Stir in 1 1/2-2 bags of arugula (7oz each). The original recipe called for baby arugula, but I just used regular. Add 1/4 cup mixed chopped herbs (mint, chives, parsley, basil, tarragon, oregano, etc... Stir until wilted. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes. Squeeze in a whole lime and mix in. Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. Divide among 6 bowls and garnish each with 2tsp plain greek yogourt and 1tsp sliced chives (I used lemon thyme). Salt and pepper to taste.

Of course, the boys added some grated parmesan in their soup :)

En Francais:

Chauffer une cs d'huile d'olive dans une grande casserole, a feu  moyen. Ajouter un oignon hache et trois gousses d'ail hachees. Faire revenir pendant 5 minutes. Ajouter 1 cc de maizena, . Melanger au fouet 6 tasses de bouillon de poule et 1/2 tasse de lait ou lait de coco. Ajouter 2 sachets d'aragula fraiche et 1/4 de tasse d'herbes fraiches (menthe, persil, tarragon, ciboulette, basilique, thym citronne, etc...), melanger jusqu'a ce que les feuilles se ramolissent. Couvrir et laisser reposer 5 minutes. Puis ajouter le jus d'un citron vert, sel et poivre a volonter, et mixer le tout jusqu'a l'obtention d'une creme lisse. repartir dans 6 bols et ajouter 2 cc de sere ou sere maigre et une cc de ciboulette hachee. parmesan si vous le souhaitez. Moi je n'avais pas de ciboulette alors j'ai utilise du thym citronne.

Cette soupe peut se consommer chaude ou froide. Bon appetit!