Portuguese Spinach & Chickpea Soup (sopa De Grao)

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 4 cups chickpeas (2 cans or about 1 pound of dried if you are using them)
• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped (feel free to use more if you are not adding sausage)
• 3 large yellow onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 potatoes, peeled and coparsely chopped (i like yukon gold)
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram, crumbled
• 4 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade and unsalted)
• 3/4 lb spinach (either frozen chopped or fresh baby spinach with stems removed and chopped)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (add one and taste(you may like less than the whole two spoonsful)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (or to taste)

Recipe

• 1 stir fry the garlic and onions in 3 tablespoons of oil in a large, heavy saucepan until translucent.
• 2 add the potatoes and stir fry another 2 to 3 minutes.
• 3 add the herbs and allow them to meloow over low heat for about 12 minutes.
• 4 add the broth, raise the heat and bring the soup to a gentle simmer, add the chickpeas, cover and cook slowly for about one hour or until everything is soft.
• 5 if you like your soup to have texture, ladle out a cup or so of chick peas; if you prefer it mostly smooth, don't.
• 6 using an immersion blender, puree the soup until it is as smooth as you like.
• 7 add in the spinach, the reserved chickpeas(if you reserved them) and simmer twenty to thirty minutes--until the flavors are blended.
• 8 now stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and serve, hot, with crusty bread.