Wonderful Watercress, Perfect Puha

My masseuse gave me some puha/watercress from a river up north somewhere, so I did what I love to do with a bunch of fine veges – made simple soup to bring out the flavour.  We did this last week with Jerusalem artichokes and that was awesome (scrubbed but unpeeled sliced with chicken stock, softened onion, garlic, parmesan and that’s about it).  But Jerusalem artichoke soup isn’t such a gorgeous colour like the watercress, so here’s the watercress recipe. 

Watercress Soup

Makes enough for 2 generous portions (dictated by the amount of watercress I had).

Finely chop

·         half an onion

Gently cook it in a medium sized saucepan in a tablespoon of olive oil over a low heat until soft and translucent.  Do this slowly.

slow cooking onions

Add

·         1 and ¾ cups of vegetable stock

Bring to gentle boil for couple of minutes.

Trim and chop

·         120g (that’s what I had) of watercress

watercress goes in

Tip into the saucepan.   Simmer 3 minutes or so until the watercress has completely wilted.  Take off the heat and stir in

·         a good tablespoon or two of sour cream

And then blend – either with a stick or benchtop blender until smooth.  Return to rinsed pot to reheat and add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.  The amount of pepper will depend on how peppery your watercress is to start with, obviously. 

green bowl of glory

Go green!!

evidence of enjoyment!