| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 45 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 leeks, white part only, washed well and chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 small potato, peeled and chopped
- 1 (8-ounce) package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped chives, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a heavy, large pot over medium heat. Add the leeks and the garlic and stir. Add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the artichokes, stock, salt, and pepper and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
- Using a handheld immersion blender, or in a blender in batches*, puree the soup. Add the 2 tablespoons mascarpone and blend again to combine. In a small bowl, stir the remaining 1/3 cup mascarpone to soften.
- Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Dollop the top of each of the soups with a spoonful of the softened mascarpone cheese and top the cheese with chives.
- * When blending hot liquids: Remove liquid from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and fill it no more than halfway. If using a blender, release one corner of the lid. This prevents the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 281 |
| Total Fat | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 25 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Cholesterol | 32 mg |
| Sodium | 623 mg |
Reviews
Delicious and super easy and fast to make. After reading several of the reviews I made these minor changes…Added two cans of chicken stock, two garlic cloves and a Parmesan rind. I also added a pinch of red pepper flakes, just because…For those of you who had a lot of fibrous materials left in the soup, I would encourage you to use an immersion blender. I have a Vitamix immersion blender and it picked up all of the fibrous pieces leaving a smooth soup…Like other opinions, this only makes enough for 2 dinner sized portions. Will definitely make this again.
Super delicious and easy. I added extra artichoke bc I love them. Also didn’t have mascapone so used 1/4 c heavy cream and also parmesan.
This one is a 5-star keeper! It’s super-simple to make and at less than 5 net carbs per serving without the potato, it’s perfect for those on the keto diet. I used a small Vidalia onion instead of the leeks because I didn’t have any, and I left out the potato to omit the carbs (the soup still thickened nicely without it). I used a 14 ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed, and an entire teaspoon of salt, not just because I love salt, but because as I omitted most processed foods (which have tons of added salt and sugar as preservatives), I find that now I don’t get enough of it to keep from getting headaches or feeling sluggish throughout the day. Also, instead of the mascarpone cheese, I added one tablespoon of real butter and 3 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream before I pulse pureed the soup with my immersion blender. (I’m new to using an immersion blender, which I purchased to make my own mayonnaise. I bought a reasonably priced one at my local big box discount store, and now that I know that I love it, it’s time to up my game and invest a little more money in one… they sure can be pricey!) Pulse pureeing for about two minutes total did the trick; I didn’t have any issues with too many fibers like I read in other reviews. To each one cup serving I added an additional pat of real butter and again, instead of the mascarpone cheese, I drizzled another tablespoon of heavy whipping cream into each cup before garnishing with chives (I used dry chives because that’s what I had). Outstanding! Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe!
I would recommend artichoke bottoms rather then hearts. The heats leave to much fibrous stalks in the soup. Other wise the taste was fine.
This tastes so rich and creamy. I only had one leek, so I used it and some yellow onion to make up the difference. I also did not have the marscapone on hand, so I used 2 T of cream instead. It is delicious. But next time, I will use the ingredients in the recipe. Thanks Giada!
Absolutely delicious! I combined Giada’s two artichoke soup (the soup with mint and the creamy soup) recipes to make this one. I used frozen artichokes. Instead of mascarpone cheese I used plain Greek yogurt. Love the mint in this soup. I thought the fiber was because of my lame blender. Very little fiber, I can live with it. because this soup is outstanding…..
Delicious! And easy to make! Couldn’t find frozen artichoke hearts so I used canned in brine then drained them.
Loved this soup. I put it thru a food mill. (That is a necessity) I left out the potato and the marscapone. Still delicious. Will definitely make again
An excellent recipe, but we found with both canned and frozen artichoke hearts, you needed one additional thing to move from unpleasant to excellent: a food mill.
Both the canned and frozen artichoke hearts had sufficient fibers to make any bowl of soup unpleasant. No matter how good your food processor, you will probably end up with about half-a-cup of unchewable fiber. That’s a lot — enough to dread every spoonful of soup.
When the three of us agreed on the problem, I immediately ran the bowls and remaining soup through a food mill. I have a relatively cheap one (Mirro 50024 Foley Stainless Steel Healthy Food Mill Cookware, 2-Quart, Silver, which is the cheapest one I could find on Amazon); but I have used it for years and it gets out every single bit of fiber. The result was exquisite.
I suppose it is possible to cook it sufficient long and to blend it sufficiently long to turn every bit of fiber into a miniscule speck, but the amount of soup that will cook off in that time makes it less effective than the food mill strategy (IMHO).
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One other thing about the food mill. When I make asparagus soup, I now start with the entire unpeeled asparagus, wooden end and all. It is hard to express how much work this saves. I cook the asparagus with the liquid and seasonings, blend it, run it through the food mill, then finish it up with whatever thickeners or seasonings are called for.
This is a really good recipe. I did use canned artichoke hearts as one reviewer recommended — will try it with frozen another time; perhaps slightly fresher flavor, if more fiber. I rinsed the artichokes & used low sodium chicken stock and added pepper but no salt. I cooked it covered, and it still reduced to being almost salty — glad I didn’t add more salt. Cooked it 25 min & used immersion blender. I didn’t have mascarpone cream on hand, which I think would be great, but I used heavy cream, which was fine, too. I can understand people adding more stock. It’s a matter of taste. I added cream until I got the consistency I wanted. I think if you like artichokes, you’ll like it. Otherwise, cook something else!