Watercress Soup

This delicious recipe was created by Love British Food Ambassador Raymond Blanc OBE. Raymond’s tip for this recipe is if you sweat your onions with a lid on the pan, then you will achieve a sweeter flavour as the starches will convert to sugars much quicker and easier.

Serves: 4

Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients

• 20g unsalted butter
• 100g finely chopped onion
• 400g watercress, stalks removed
• 100g spinach, washed and picked
• 8g sea salt
• 1g fresh ground black pepper
• 750ml boiling water
• 750ml ice

Method

1. On a low heat, sweeten the onion in the butter for 8 minutes until softened and translucent.
2. Turn up the heat, add ¾ watercress (reserving some of the leaves to add to the soup at the last moment) and spinach and wilt for 2 minutes.
3. Add the water (boiling), season with the sea salt and pepper and quick boil for 2 minutes. Purée in a liquidiser until very smooth and add the reserved ¼ of watercress to taste
4. Reheat, taste and correct the seasoning if required – serve immediately, piping hot to your guests in a large soup tureen.
5. Variations:
6. As a good Frenchman, I would be tempted to add a clove of pureed garlic or flakes of toasted garlic to the soup. A tablespoon of Greek yoghurt would be a nice addition.
7. Health Benefits:
8. Watercress is a cruciferous vegetable and shares the rich nutrition profile of all the brassica family. The brassicas have the some of the highest antioxidants in particular the glucosinolates which help to increase the natural detoxifying enzymes in the body. These in turn get rid of harmful chemicals and hormones. The brassicas also contain the phytonutrient the indol-3-carbinol which has shown to increase the rate of oestrogen breakdown in the liver – therefore and important food group for women.