It's not easy being green...

Ok, so we were not fooling around this week with the greens.  A reminder of what we're dealing with here:

It's like >5 lbs of greens!  Two of the pounds were salad mix and something labeled "stir fry mix"

I dropped a handful of these in some scrambled eggs yesterday, but was looking for some other ways to use them up as...well, there is a LOT.  The internet provided (eventually) as I found this recipe on the NY Times website for Provencal Greens Soup, and I thought a soup that described the greens ingredient as "...wild greens that you might forage on an afternoon’s walk, such as nettles, watercress and dandelion greens." would fit the bill nicely for these guys - don't they look like something you'd gather during a walk in southern France?

So, a couple of leeks in hand, I set off to make the soup.  A few changes I made were to use 4-cups of chicken broth that I had in our malfunctioning 2-month old freezer in the garage that I needed to empty (yes, I'm bitter) as well as add a parmesan rind as suggested in the comment on the recipe.  There were many, many other suggestions in the comments, as well as a general feeling that tempering eggs is harder than it sounds.  At any rate, I thought it was tasty, and I used about 3/4 of the greens!  Yay!  (I probably could have squeezed all of them in)

Provencal Greens Soup (adapted from the New York Times)

Ingredients:

1. 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2. 2 leeks, sliced in half lengthwise and sliced thinly crosswise, then washed and drained. (I used leeks that were about 1" in diameter, and only the white and light green parts).
3. 4 garlic cloves, sliced
4. Kosher salt
5. 6 cups chopped greens. I didn't measure this very carefully, I filled up a bowl (see pic below) w/ about 5-6 large handfuls, then put them on the cutting board and ran a knife through them a few times to chop. 
6. 4 cups chicken stock
7. 2 cups water  
8. parmesan rind
9. Black pepper to taste
10. 2 large eggs
11. Slices of good bread (whatever is good to you - I used some pane di casa from the Teeter, any "sturdy" bread will do. If I'd realized I'd be making this I'd have bought some bread at the Curb Market yesterday.) 
12. 1 clove garlic cut in half
13. Additional grated parmesan for serving.

What to do:

1. Heat up the olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat, add the leeks and saute 5 minutes until tender. Add the garlic and about 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook about 1 minute until the garlic is fragrant.  Add the greens and stir until they wilt a bit.  Add the water and stock and parmesan rind, and bring the mixture to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer partially covered for 15-20 minutes until the greens are tender.  Add more salt and pepper to taste.
2.  Beat the eggs. While whisking the eggs, drizzle in 1-2 ladles (about a cup or two) of the hot soup.  Whisk the egg soup mixture back into the rest of the soup.  This is "tempering" and is supposed to avoid scrambled egg soup.  If they scramble, don't panic, call it egg drop soup with greens and move on with your life.
3. To serve:  Toast a slice of bread (brush with olive oil if you like).  Rub the toast w/ a cut clove of garlic.  Chop toast into bite sized chunks and put in the soup bowl.  Ladle soup over.  Grate some parmesan on top.  You can skip the bread if you like.

Some pics!  Your mise:

Sauteing the leeks:

Adding the greens and simmering:

Soup's on!

And, while I'm playing with my phone, here's the strawberry shortcake we had for Mother's Day lunch dessert.  Strawberries from Rudd Farm, biscuits (shortcake) from Smitten Kitchen, and ice cream from last week's barbecue for our seniors.  And hey, the biscuits are too easy, you don't even need a sifter, just whisk all the dry ingredients together and add the cream.