Rustic spinach and cornmeal soup

I saw this recipe in my Bon Appetit magazine, and it caught my eye for a couple reasons. First, I had bought a bag of coarse cornmeal to make polenta a month or so ago, and I wanted to use some of it up. Second, I had gotten some bags of spinach on sale and needed to eat them before they go bad. And third, it was "cold" today (by Miami standards, a.k.a. below 60) and who doesn't love soup on a chilly evening?

Here are the ingredients:

• 6 C. chicken broth
• 3/4 C. polenta (coarse cornmeal)
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed
• kosher salt
• 8 oz. baby spinach leaves

To start, heat the broth until simmering, and whisk together the polenta and flour in a separate pot.


Add a cup of the broth to the polenta mixture, and whisk until smooth. Add the butter and smashed garlic and stir.



Slowly add the rest of the broth and simmer until the soup thickens and the cornmeal is soft (20-25 minutes). Whisk often to prevent sticking. Once the cornmeal is cooked, stir in the spinach, and let cook until wilted.


Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve!


Mmmmmm, just what I needed tonight! (but I think Evan would have liked it better with some sort of meat...) I thought there would be big chunks of garlic in the soup because I didn't chop it, but it kind of melted into everything and was delicious!

I'm super excited to have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!!