Chilled Wild Watercress Soup
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
For Soup
- 1 lb wild watercress, leaves & stems separated
- 1 russet potato, peeled & chopped
- 1 onion, peeled & quartered
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled & crushed
- 2 bay leaves
- 10 springs thyme
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- kosher salt
- water to cover
- ΒΌ lb butter, cubed & chilled
Serving Suggestions
- cracked black pepper
- verjus (unripened grape juice) or Champagne vinegar
- miner's lettuce
- edible flowers
Equipment
- piece of cheese cloth & butcher's twine
- blender
- fine mesh strainer
How-to
- Combine potato, onion, garlic and watercress stems in a pot. Cover by a few inches with water, and season with salt
- Wrap herbs, whole black pepper and coriander up in a piece of cheesecloth, tie with butcher's twine and add to the pot
- Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer and cook until potato is done, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, discard the sachet of herbs and pass through a fine mesh strainer, reserving the cooking liquid. Set aside
- Bring a separate pot of salted water to a boil and blanch watercress tops until tender, 1 minute
- Transfer tops to an ice bath to "shock" and stop the cooking
- In blender, combine the cooked, drained vegetables, the blanched watercress tops, a few ice cubes from the water bath (this will preserve the vibrant green color) and a bit of the reserved cooking liquid. Blend until smooth
- Slowly add chilled, diced butter while blending
- Pass the soup through a fine mesh strainer into a container set over an ice bath. Transfer container in the ice bath to the refrigerator to chill, about 20 minutes (this will help retain the color)
- Remove from ice bath and season with salt & pepper if desired
- Ladle into bowls and season with cracked black pepper. Drizzle with verjus or Champagne vinegar, garnish with young lettuce (Josh uses miner's lettuce) and edible flowers if desired