Creamy Lemon Artichoke Soup

Artichokes are one of my favorite snacks or side dishes. Peeling back the leaves dunking them in really good mayonnaise or melted butter and scraping the leaf against your teeth is such a delicious activity. Then when you finish peeling off all of the leaves you get to the spiky choke which has to be scooped out to reveal the sweet and tender heart. The heart of the artichoke is your reward for all of the work it takes to get there. 

Last week I was enjoying an artichoke as a little afternoon snack and while I was dunking the leaves in a lemony mayonnaise I thought this would be really delicious as a soup. 

I took the idea of my I can't believe it's not dairy broccoli soup to use potatoes and olive oil to make this soup rich and creamy without the cream. 

Creamy Lemon Artichoke Soup 

3 Tbsp olive oil - divided 

1 large onion, diced

Salt

3 cloves garlic, minced 

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/3 cup dry or semi-dry white wine 

400 grams/14 oz frozen artichoke hearts - defrosted 

OR 2 14 oz cans artichoke hearts that are drained and well rinsed 

3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 

4-6 cups of water 

Juice of 1/2 lemon, about 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons 

In a medium-sized pot heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion along with a good pinch of salt and cook until the onion starts to become translucent about 5 minutes. While the onion cooks trim any hard bits off of the artichoke hearts and then cut the trimmed hearts into cubes. Add the garlic and black pepper to the pot and cook for another minute until fragrant. Add the white wine and scrape up anything stuck to the bottom of the pot and cook for about 3 minutes until the wine has reduced. Add the artichokes, potatoes, and water just to cover everything in the pot and add another pinch of salt. Don't add all 6 cups of water start out with 4-5 cups and if you need more water to thin out the soup you can add it after it's blended. Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat cover the pot and allow the soup to simmer for about 30-40 minutes until everything is tender. 

Remove the pot from the heat and blend the soup using an immersion blender. You can use a stand blender just be sure to work in batches and make sure to remove the small plastic cap in the cover and place a kitchen towel over the top being very careful with the build-up of steam. 

Whichever method you choose just blend until smooth, then add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and lemon juice blend to mix that in and then taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. If the soup is too thick for you add a little more water. 

Yield: 4-6 portions