Makes 8 servings, about 1 1/4 cups each
Total Time: about 1 hour
- 2 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
- 2 yellow onions, chopped
- 1 tsp. salt, divided
- 1/4 cup arborio rice
- 1 lb greens: green chard, kale, mustard greens, or beet greens
- 14 cups gently packed spinach (about 12 oz.)
- 4 cups vegetable broth (Click here for Bonnie’s Organic Vegetable Broth Recipe)
- Big pinch cayenne pepper (Note from Bonnie: I use the contents of one capsule of The Cayenne Company’s Heart Food Caps)
- 1 tbs. lemon juice, or more to taste
1. Heat oil in large skillet over high heat. Add onions and 1/4 tsp. salt; cook, stirring, until onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add 2 tbs. water, and cover. Cook stirring frequently, until onions are greatly reduced and have a caramel color, 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, combine 3 cups water, remaining 3/4 tsp. salt, and rice in soup pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer, cover, and cook 15 minutes. Trim ribs and tough stems from the greens and spinach; discard. Coarsely chop greens and spinach.
3. When rice has cooked 15 minutes, stir in greens. Return to a simmer; cover and cook 10 minutes. When onions are caramelized, stir a little greens’ simmering liquid into them; immediately add them to rice along with spinach, broth, and cayenne. Return to a simmer, cover and cook until spinach is tender but still bright green, about 5 minutes more.
4. Puree soup in pot with immersion blender until perfectly smooth, or in regular blender in batches. Stir in lemon juice and garnish with olive oil.
I modified the recipe to be vegan as Dale is strictly vegan (no oil) and I found like it best made that way (I skip the part where you caramelize the onion and just put it into the pot with the other vegetables). For the garlic I use the contents of one of The Cayenne Company’s Heart Food Caps capsules (contains 100,000 hu Cayenne Fruit, Garlic, Hawthorn Berry, Onion and Ginger Root). To save time I make a double (or triple) recipe and, while it’s hot, I pour it into quart Mason jars (8 quarts) and, after it cools, I freeze six of them and take one or two out of the freezer daily or as we need them. All three of us eat the soup at least once a day and I eat it two times a day on my fast days.
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