Watercress Soup

Watercress is an amazing vegetable with which to construct a soup. The secret of watercress soup is to keep the brilliant colour, which is so appealing to the eye. To do this, you need to blend the soup as soon as you have added the watercress to the other cooked ingredients. If you cook the watercress for any length of time it will loose its vibrancy.

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Ingredients:

250g watercress, trimmed and course stalks discarded

75g butter

1 onion, finely chopped

700g potatoes, cut into small dice

900ml milk

900ml vegetable or chicken stock

1 small carton of single cream

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Method:

Roughly chop the watercress, reserving a few sprigs for garnish.

Melt the butter in a large pan, add the onion and cook gently over a low heat until soft and translucent. Add the potatoes and cook for one minute. Pour in the milk and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

Remove from the heat, stir in the watercress and blend with a hand blender until smooth. Add the cream and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat through and serve garnished with the reserved watercress sprigs.