This recipe was posted on my Sacramento Valley Rose RWA chapter by Shannon Lockwood. Thank you, Shannon. (I’ve noted my changes in parenthesis. I needed it to make 6 servings and the original didn’t say how much it made.)

My bookclub members loved it last night and it’s so easy. Tangy and different, but very hard to quit easting.

Artichoke Soup

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 leeks, white parts only, washed well and chopped fine. ( I used three.)
3 cloves garlic, minced (Shannon said the original recipe called for one clove. I used 4.)
One small potato, peeled and chopped. (I used 2 Yukon Golds.)
Two cans of NON-marinated artichoke hearts, drained. (Do NOT use the marinated variety. Frozen artichoke hearts will work well too, but thaw them first. Basically, you want about 3 1/2 to 4 cups of hearts. (I used 3 cans that I bought at Trader Joe’s.)
2 cups chicken stock (I used 1 32-oz. vacuum pack vegetable stock.)
Salt and pepper to taste (about a tsp each)
3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese (plus more for garnish. It usually comes in 8 ounce tubs, one tub should do ya and then some.)
Chopped chives.

In a good sized soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the leeks and the garlic and stir, sauteing for two minutes. Add the potato and cook, stirring often for five minutes. Add the artichokes, chicken stock, salt and pepper and simmer until all the vegetables are tender. About 20 minutes.

Using a food processor or blender, puree mixture then add the mascarpone (about three tablespoons) and blend a bit more until everything is incorporated well.

Return the soup to a warm sauce pan or refrigerate if you are making it a day ahead. The bottom line here is the soup needs to be warmed through but NOT boiling before serving.

Top each with additional tablespoons of mascarpone (stir the cheese first - think of it as really thick sour cream) and top with chives (optional — I forgot them ).

That’s it. So very easy. The hard part was making sure the garlic didn’t burn.

We had soup, salad (thank you, Jan) and bread that my son made (thank you, Jon Paul) and, in keeping with the theme of the book, most everything was organic and/or grown locally, except the artichokes, which I’m embarrassed to admit came from Spain, but they’re the only ones I could find. Sigh.) If you read the book, you’ll know why this is an issue.

Cheers and happy eating.
Deb