This recipe is adapted from my friend F's adaptation of a recipe that appears in a nice little book called The 125 Best Meatless Pasta Dishes. From the name of this book you will be able to intuit that the soup originally called for some sort of pasta. In fact, it is very pleasant with a handful of pasta stars tossed in near the end. (Do it before you add the milk and then proceed once the stars are cooked through.) But it is also very good without.

To my mind, this approaches the ideal for cream of spinach soup, so if you like that sort of thing at all, give it a try. It is flavorful and fragrant, but also delicate and soothing. A fantastic scent springs up the moment you add the cumin and sherry to the pan. I have in my mind the notion that this combination of flavors would also make a superb creamed spinach dish; maybe I'll give that a try when I restock my supply of ingredients.

I will say that the original recipe calls for fresh spinach, and that I always use frozen. Normally I am not really the type to urge you to substitute something less fresh, but (a) cleaning and de-stemming fresh spinach can be a pain, and if you skip that part this recipe is super quick and easy for a worknight, (b) good-quality frozen spinach that comes in a bag, rather than a frozen block, is really perfectly good for many uses, is perfectly full of nutrients, and can be kept around for weeks on end, until you need it, and (c) you will, after all, be pureeing it to smithereens. Under the circumstances, I think frozen is just fine. Better than tough old fresh spinach, in fact, I suspect. If you happen to have fresh on hand, of course, feel free to use it.

MY FAVORITE SPINACH SOUP
1/2 pound fresh or frozen spinach
3 T. butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t ground cumin
1 T decent dry sherry
2 cups water and 1 bullion cube or 2 cups broth
1/4 - 1/2 t salt
A few grinds of pepper
2 cups whole milk
A pinch of grated nutmeg
1/2 t. finely grated lemon zest (I have to chop the strands of peel that my particular zester produces to get it fine enough)
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Wash and de-stem your spinach, if using fresh. Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat, then add the onion, garlic, cumin, and sherry. Inhale deeply. Saute for about four minutes. Add the water and bullion cube, spinach, salt, and pepper, and turn heat to high. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, covered, for five minutes.

Puree the soup with an immersion blender (highly recommended) or in a regular blender. Be careful if you're transferring hot soup from pot to blender and back! Bring back to a boil over high heat, stirring often, and then lower heat to medium again. Add milk, nutmeg, and zest, and heat through. Add juice and taste for salt.

Serves four, or two if it's all you're eating for dinner and you keep going back for more.