Ginger Miso Soup with Spinach and Tofu

It was 48 degrees in our apartment this morning. Not as bad as the 7 degrees outside, but still, not anyway way to live. The saddest part is, our apartment is actually really nice. It just has old windows that come standard with its pre war charm and negative insulation, hence the ice fishing shanty temperature.

So what else was I to do but make soup? This is a variation on a recipe from a Marie Claire "Crisp" cookbook. It's actually an incredible little book, one that I would definitely grab in the event of the God forbid house fire. (I woke up to find two giant fire trucks in front of our building at 3 am this morning. Apparently all was fine, but it did leave me with nightmares of running out of the house into near negative temperatures, using my cats as blankets.)

If you've never had miso soup, I'd advise starting with a more basic version, sans the ginger, as it brings its distinct warming presence full on in this soup. But of course, that's just what we needed today.

Ginger Miso Sour with Spinach and Tofu
Serves 5.

32 oz low sodium vegetable stock (or if you're not vegetarian chicken stock)
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
4 Shitake mushrooms, tough ends removed and sliced length-wise into thin slices
8 paper thin slices fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, peeled and given a tap with the side of your knife

2 tablespoons light miso paste
6 oz firm tofu, cut into small cubes
4 green onions, halved lengthwise and chopped into 1/4 pieces

3 oz fresh baby spinach leaves

Add the stock, wine and water to a large soup pot and put it on high heat bringing it to a boil. Add the cinnamon stick, Shitakes, ginger and garlic and reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick then add the miso, stirring to allow it to melt in, then the tofu and green onions. Let simmer another 10 minutes. Add the spinach leaves and stir just until wilted (it won't matter taste wise if you let it simmer all day - it just serves prettier if the leaves still have a bright green to them.) Remove the garlic clove before serving and the ginger slices if desired.

Quick note - this would also be great with sugar snap peas and or chicken instead of tofu.