Mama's Creamy Artichoke Soup

Every holiday feast when I was growing up started the same way-- the first thing in people's mouths was my Mama's Cream of Artichoke Soup. It began as an adaptation from The Plantation Cookbook, and eventually ended as her own recipe. My mother is no longer with us, and so this holiday season, I've taken up the Artichoke Soup and am now reinventing it as my very own. Consider this recipe a translation of a translation.

Mama's Creamy Artichoke Soup

Ingredients

1 (14oz) can artichoke hearts, mashed(I use Reese)

6T butter

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced celery

6T flour

5.5 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup lemon juice

salt 

pepper

1/4 tbsp fresh Thyme

1/4 tbsp fresh Rosemary

1/4 tbsp Worcestershire

2 eggs

2 cups evaporated milk

1/4 cup dry sherry (I recommend Lustau Palo Cortado)

Method

In a stock pot, melt butter and saute onion and celery until translucent. Add flour, stir to coat, and cook for one minute. Add stock, artichokes, lemon juice, Rosemary, Thyme, and Worcestershire as well as salt and pepper to taste (appx 1tsp each). Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, beat two eggs, then combine with evaporated milk. Take soup off heat, and puree either in food processor or with immersion blender until smooth. If necessary, strain with a slotted spoon to make sure all chunks have been removed. Working carefully to temper your egg/milk mixture, take a ladle-full of pureed soup and incorporate it into your egg/milk mixture. Continue slowly until egg/milk mixture has been brought up in temperature and eggs have not scrambled (approximately 5-6 ladle-fulls of soup). Then, pour egg/milk mixture into the remaining soup puree and stir to combine. Return to heat, add sherry, salt, and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes. 

Tradition is to serve it in coffee mugs and consume lazily standing around the kitchen getting in people's way while they cook.