Watercress Soup

Name: Watercress Soup
Yield: 6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 100g butter; 1 brown onion, diced; Salt flakes, to taste; ½ teaspoon fennel seeds, roughly ground; 300g floury potatoes, diced; 1 litre chicken stock; 500g watercress, roughly chopped; ¼ cup crème fraîche

I love the pepperiness of watercress but picking the leaves for a salad can be quite tedious. You’ll need about 2 bunches for this watercress soup, but the beauty is there’s no picking required, you can use almost all of it, just discard the thickest stems and any yellowing leaves and throw the rest in the pot! Serve it hot or chilled with a glass of Chalmers Greco, this full-flavoured white wine has good acid and sings with the peppery watercress and rich crème frâiche. See video below if you feel like saving a few watercress sprigs for a salad.

Serves 6 as a starter

Ingredients

100g butter
1 brown onion, diced
Salt flakes, to taste
½ teaspoon fennel seeds, roughly ground
300g floury potatoes, diced
1 litre vegetable stock or chicken stock
500g watercress, roughly chopped
¼ cup crème fraîche
Chive Pull Aparts, for serving

Method

Melt butter, add onion and a good pinch of salt, cover and fry over low heat for about 10 minutes until tender and just starting to colour.
Stir in fennel seed, potato and stock, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until potato is almost tender.
Add watercress, reserving a few small sprigs for garnish, and stir until it wilts enough to be submerged in the stock.
Cover and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes, until thickest stems are tender.
Transfer to a bowl to cool a little.
Put into a food processor and process on high speed until smooth.
Return to a clean saucepan and bring to a simmer. Taste and add salt if necessary.
Ladle into soup bowls, swirl crème fraîche into the centre and garnish with reserved watercress.
Serve with Chive Pull Aparts.