I wanted to make a lighter soup and decided to make this recipe up. Normally I make soups that are more akin to meal replacements, filled with various meats and vegetables. In the past, in some of the restaurants I worked with, particularly the French ones, we would have lighter soups that would break the coursed meals.
This particular soup uses a couple of potatoes to help thicken the soup, and relies on the peppery flavor of watercress and the deep earthy flavor of the cooked shallots. I actually left the shallots in the oven a little longer than I intended, but the extra charred flavor rounded the soup out pleasantly. I also added preserved lemons and fermented garlic to enhance the flavor.
One thing to note when making this is that I broke the watercress into stems and leaves. I used the stems in the earlier part of making this soup to impart the flavor, then to finish, I blended the leaves to brighten the soup up. Once you've pureed the leaves into the soup, try to not keep cooking it, just warm it to serve at this point. When you cook with green colored vegetables you need to be careful how long your actively cooking them. The longer they cook, the more green is removed and the product generally becomes more of a yellowish brown color that is generally unappealing.
I made this soup using chicken stock, but you can easily swap this to vegetable stock to make it vegetarian. I also garnished this soup with yogurt crema and bagel croutons, which you could easily remove to make it vegan, and gluten free.
Enjoy
Ingredients
potatoes, peeled and chopped 2 ea
watercress 4 bunches
fermented garlic* 3 T
onions, chopped 2 ea
shallots, peeled 3 ea
Avenue Spice 2 T + 1T for shallots
preserved lemons, rinsed and chopped 2 T
chicken stock 2 qt
extra virgin olive oil (XVO) 2 T + 1T for shallots
salt to taste
pepper to taste
*if you don't have fermented garlic, feel free and use regular garlic bulbs but you might want to increase the amount
Garnish
everything bagel croutons, yogurt crema
Method of Procedure
Preheat your oven to 350.
Peel and halve your shallots, then toss them with XVO and Avenue Spice. Roast them in the oven until they are charred, around 30-45 minutes depending on your oven.
In your soup pot saute your diced onions, potatoes, preserved lemons, and fermented garlic with your XVO until softened.
While your vegetables are cooking, wash your watercress thoroughly, then cut the stems from the leaves.
Chop the stems up, then add them to the vegetables with your chicken stock and Avenue Spice. Bring to a simmer and cook until they are tender.
Once the potatoes are tender, puree them through a blender or with a stick blender.
After the soup is pureed, add your leaves and puree again.
Season to taste with salt and pepper, then serve.
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