Wild Lettuce Soup

Wild lettuce is something I've been foraging this year that's new to me.  I noticed a whole bunch of it popping up last year, but only recognized what it was when it was about three feet tall, flowering, and too bitter to imagine eating.  This spring when the snow finally melted, I noticed several of these little rosettes, and it occurred to me that the leaves looked almost like skinny lettuce.  I threw a few photos up on one of the amazingly helpful Plant Identification groups on Facebook, and did a bit of googling, and realized that their resemblance to lettuce was because they were!  The following hints about how to identify wild lettuce are not comprehensive enough to guarantee what you've found.  Before eating any wild plant please do your research and make sure you know what you are eating.  There's no good reason to risk eating something that you are not 100% sure of.

This wild member of the lactuca family is the ancestor of the lettuce you see in the grocery store. You want to make sure you harvest it young, because otherwise it becomes too bitter.  Look for lush leaves coming up in a rosette, with somewhat wavy and possibly even slightly prickly edges. The midrib of each leaf should have some prickles forming on the back.  One of the most telltale signs is a milky sap when you break off a leaf.

Milky sap is usually an indicator that the plant is something you shouldn't be eating, but notable exceptions include wild lettuce, and also the dandelion.  These bitter spring greens are the perfect thing to eat after a winter of rich and heavy food.  I think that is one of the beautiful things about seasonal eating.  

Wild lettuce is, in fact, very bitter.  It goes even beyond most kales I've eaten, and some people will have a very hard time eating it.  While you could include it in your spring salad mix, I find it more palatable cooked.  The soup below was a really nice way to eat these greens, and the bitterness balanced out the richness of the other ingredients beautifully.  If you still find them too bitter try leaving it to eat until the next day.  When I ate the leftovers I found the flavour had completely mellowed and was even more delicious.

Wild Lettuce and Bacon Soup

If you still like the look of this recipe but can't find any wild lettuce, swap it out for kale or another strong and bitter green that you have on hand.

• One large onion
• Two cloves garlic
• 5 - 6 slices bacon
• 4 - 5 Yukon gold potatoes
• 2 - 3 cups wild lettuce
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cups milk
• Rosemary
• Basil
• Paprika
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Salt
• 1 tbsp lemon Juice

1. Melt the butter in the bottom of your pot, and as it heats mince the onion.  Sauté until translucent.  Mince the garlic and add.
2. Add the bacon and cook until crispy.  
3. While the bacon is cooking, chop the potatoes into small, bite sized pieces.  Add them into the pot and sauté briefly.
4. Cover everything with water and simmer until the potatoes are cooked.
5. Pour in milk, and add spices in the amounts that you like.  Bring back to temperature, and chop the wild lettuce.  Throw it in and put the lid on for a few minutes.  Once the greens are steamed slightly stir them in.  
6. When the lettuce is just wilted add the lemon juice and taste to see if you need to adjust your spices.  When you are happy with everything it is ready to enjoy!

Meals from the Pantry: Roasted Vegetable Soup

The recipe I am posting about today came about because I had quite a few odds and ends in my crisper drawer that needed to be used as soon as possible.  I love soup a lot, but I don't always have broth on hand.  I do often make my own, but there is often a gap between when I run out and when I remember to make some more.  For me this is a barrier, because I don't usually like buying stock from the store.  Since I know I can make a much better product, I don't usually buy it, but then I still don't end up making it right away either.  

Maybe this is only me, but sometimes I just want my soup now.  Like instant noodles now.  I am so very happy to say that thanks to Marisa over at Food in Jars, I have found a happy medium between homemade quality, and cup of noodles fast.  Her recipe is basically a salt preserved veggie paste that lives in your fridge and gives you soup whenever you want it.  It's one teaspoon per cup of boiling water, and there you go!  This is something I always have in my fridge now.  It's one of my favourite pantry staples, and something that gets even more interesting in flavour the older it gets.  Her recipe uses dried tomatoes, but what I had on hand was dried wild mushrooms "foraged" (read purchased) from a shopping trip to Costco, of all places, so I substituted them and it was a really delicious choice.  Find her recipe here if you would like to make some (I highly recommend it)!

Due to a lack of stock in the freezer, I turned to this soup concentrate paste to transform my wilting veggies into a beautiful, deeply flavoured soup!   Use anything you have around.  I had a bunch of root veggies, and some other things, but really the sky is the limit here.  Roasted tomato soup with this method would be amazing, or maybe you have some lettuce, or kale that you didn't quite make it through - throw that in there (although add it in right after the roasting step).  The only thing I would consider is making sure the final colour of your soup will be appetizing.  The sky is technically the limit, but you might want to think twice about using your kale and tomatoes - for example - together since red and green when combined make grey.  It will still be perfectly edible, and probably tasty, but it won't be winning any beauty pageants!  Chop everything up into large chunks, and roast in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for about an hour, or until it is all fork tender, and getting caramelized around the edges.  Your next step is to bend, add liquid, season it, and simmer the whole thing until you are happy with it!  Feel free to also use regular broth or stock in this recipe if that is what you have and it will taste just as delicious!

Your yield for this recipe will vary a lot, since it is just using up whatever you have around.  Don't worry about specific amounts.  What I used in the above photo (baking tray is the largest size, for reference) made enough soup for about 5 servings.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Yield will vary

• Miscellaneous vegetables (I used parsnips, carrots, onion, garlic, leeks, celeriac, and sunchokes)
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Juice from One Lemon
• 6 cups of water (or substitute stock/broth and omit the soup base)
• 6 teaspoons soup base

1. Chop vegetables into large pieces (peeling is not necessary, but if your veggies are a little bit past their prime it might be a good idea), and arrange in a single layer on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for about an hour.  Veggies should be fork tender, and lots of caramelization is a good thing (ie: they might look quite dark, or even a bit burnt around the edges, but that will add flavour).
2. Transfer vegetables and a cup or two of water into a blender or food processor, and purée until smooth.  (This is when you add your leafy greens if you are going to be using them).
3. Pour the whole mix into a pot on medium heat (or a slow cooker if you want to do it ahead of time) and add the rest of the water a cup at a time until you like the consistency.  Whisk in the soup base, taste, and season with additional salt and pepper as desired.  The soup base is very salty so definitely taste before adding any more salt.  
4. When you are happy with the consistency and overall flavour, stir in the lemon juice.  Soup is ready to eat as soon as it is warmed through.

What to do with Leftover Trout

For some crazy reason we had leftovers from the other night's baked trout.  This isn't a normal situation for us and left us wondering what on earth to do with the leftovers.  The answer presented itself in the form of chowder.  This is a seriously easy and versatile recipe.  Try it out with any fish you have a small amount of and I bet it would be good.  This is the perfect way to stretch a small amount of fish to serve more people.

HOW TO MAKE THIS

1. Fry a bunch of bacon (cut into small chunks) in the bottom of a saucepan.

2. Dice half an onion and add it to the bacon.  Sauté until translucent.

3. Chop up some potatoes.  I did largish chunks.  It doesn't really matter how big, but keep in mind smaller ones cook faster.  Sauté for a bit with the onions and bacon.

4. Turn down the heat and wait a bit - alternatively take the pan off the heat for a bit and add milk to generously cover the other ingredients.  This is all your liquid so add more than you need for just this since you're still throwing in a couple more ingredients.

5. Gradually turn up the heat until milk is at a light boil.  Cook stirring often until potatoes are soft.

6. We had green beans as part of our meal so I chopped the leftovers of them up and threw them in.  I also added some frozen corn.  

7. Add the fish at the very end because you don’t want to overcook it. Let the soup come back up to temperature, and add salt and pepper as needed.