2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups onions, diced
4 cups mushrooms, sliced
2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
1 cup carrots, grated
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups heavy cream
4 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
4 cups cooked chicken, diced
2 cups artichoke hearts, drained
2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onions, mushrooms, garlic, and carrots for 30 minutes, stirring often. Add flour and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add white wine, heavy cream, and stock. Whisk until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.

Yield: 14 cups

Other great recipes can also be found in Eastside Cafe's cookbooks, available in our gardening and cooking retail store, Pitchforks and Tablespoons.


Call Pitchforks and Tablespoons to Order:
(512) 494-1464
 
 
 
Thanks to our friends over at Ironsmith - The Fitness Doctors for helping to keep Austin fit! Click on the image above to find out more information about them.
 
 
In this newsletter we share with you the recipe for the most popular soup ever, and offer you some tips to prepare your garden before spring arrives. Dust off your garden tools and get your soup pot out. It's time to get busy!
 
Heads up all of you gardeners. Before you get to bask in the warm sun of spring while smelling the roses, before you get to devour those ripe red slices of tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil or dive into crisp cucumber salads with Texas tarragon vinaigrette in the hot summer months, you need to put on your long underwear, grab your thermos of hot coffee, and brave the wet and cold to get your garden ready for growing. Soon it will be time to plant most of your favorite herbs and veggies and here’s what you need to do to get prepared.

Get rid of any dead plants, roots, and weeds. Turn the soil over and work in organic compost: you’ll be aerating the soil adding oxygen essential to plant growth, and nutrients from the compost to feed new seeds and plant starts.

Are you a gambler? Plant tomato, pepper, eggplant, and squash starting in late February. If they don’t freeze, you’ll be harvesting way ahead of your neighbors.
Are you more the cautious type?
The county extension service recommends planting spring/ summer vegetables March 15th through April 15th to avoid potential freezes. And it’s safe to go ahead and plant potatoes beginning President’s Day (don’t you love the alliteration?) While you’re out there, show your rosebushes some love. Prune them in February. Do these simple things and have gorgeous flowers and baskets of healthy vegetables all spring and summer long.
 
 
We'll look at this under appreciated varietal and introduce you to it's charms. If you happened to miss our previous feature, Cabernet Franc, you can still take a look back by using this link to our website.
 
Come see us and walk through our garden or sit in the shade of our 125-year-old American Elm tree; shop in our cooking and gardening store, Pitchforks and Tablespoons; and let us feed you in the comfort of our old home. It will make you very happy.

Some restaurants talk about fresh food...we grow it.
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