The Foodie Files

I ate dinner at one of my regular haunts in Nashville a few days ago and, much to my horror, learned they stopped serving my favorite soup.  Not okay.  This may sound crazy to you, but I get flavors stuck in my head the way other folks get songs stuck in theirs...and after awhile it gets to be pretty consuming. It didn't take long (significantly less than 24 hours, to be honest) before the chorus of "Lemon Artichoke Soup" got to be too much for me and I resigned myself to figure out the recipe.  Now that I'm on the other side of it, it's looking a lot more like a blessing in disguise.  I have my soup and I get to share it with you.  Win, win- don't you think?

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup minced celery
1/2 cup minced carrots
1 clove garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups chopped artichoke hearts
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 lemon, halved

Melt your butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrot, and garlic and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the chicken broth, artichoke hearts, salt and pepper and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Squeeze both lemon halves into the pan and cook for 10 minutes more.  Simmer for 5-10 additional minutes to develop a bit more flavor and serve. 

I made this for myself for lunch today and ate an ungodly amount...it's so savory and just tart enough to be interesting.  I did have a few issues in the "I've gotta stop eating this department" but let's be honest, those are pretty much champagne problems.  Hope you enjoy it!