Watercress soup is a soup prepared using the leaf vegetable watercress as a primary ingredient. Cook the onions: In a large pot, heat the butter until frothy, then cook the onions over medium heat … Glad I found this recipe. I absolutely love watercress, so I will have to make it. And then, I dive into the cheeses…. Reheat gently just before serving. Clean the watercress well in a couple of changes of cold water to make sure there’s no grit. (Curiously, we call the main course the entrée in America, whereas in France, the entrée is the first course – or the “entry” into the meal.) Sounds really good. On a whim I buy watercress for no reason and not knowing what to do with it. It makes it easier to decorate the soup with a pretty swirl of cream just before serving. :). 4. Thanks! I cooked up an onion with a big knob of butter until soft, added a few potatoes and simmered until the potatoes were tender. They’re both so bland I’ve given up buying them. Puree the soup using an immersion blender, or wait until the soup is lukewarm and puree until smooth in a blender. The sweating process will convert the natural starches present in the onion into sugars, enhancing the flavour of the soup. Required fields are marked *. Your email address will not be published. Hmm, I think I’ll go buy some and make both. I shall buy watercress at the market on Thursday and make your soup. Old memories. 3 cups (3/4 liter) homemade chicken broth, vegetable broth or water I remember Romain being very surprised when I told him that Americans usually ate cheese before a meal, with the apéritif. In my state of health it’s worth a try – it’s also delicious. Could we see a video of how you deal with this delicious but troublesome item? Harris Teeter here in the south have started to stock Amish butter. Place the watercress soup in your fridge. It’s your call. Even now a lot of restaurants still refer to it as a side salad in the UK and it will always come with the main course. 2 tbsp. Wash the watercress carefully: Immerse it in a basin of water, then spin dry in the salad spinner. Additional ingredients used can include vegetables such as potato, leeks, spinach, celery and turnips, cheese, butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper. You can garnish this soup in any number of ways, a few I mentioned in the post – from a spoonful of yogurt or cream swirled over the top with fresh herbs, to a handful of seeds or bits of crumbled bacon strewn over the top. This looks divine! Watercress soup is one of those great soups, like a lot of French dishes, that don’t necessarily require a lot of ingredients. This is a soup with comforting flavor and takes just 15 minutes to make. Raymond Blanc goes for four minutes, Rowley Leigh a mere two, but swiftest of all is Denis Cotter in his book Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and Me, blanching them separately then plunging the… Look up the benefits. Whatever the reason, it’s really annoying. I’m for the ‘salad before or with the main course’, it’s a personal thing but generally, in Switzerland where I come from, it’s a ‘starter’ and often ordered as an ‘entrée’. But – oops! I get that same craving after having been away from France for a few weeks – great crusty baguette, cheese and the best saucissons. It will be a deep bright green. Omg!been there in the 80’s. For a larger crowd, double or triple the recipe. I had a lovely meal in the country outside of Florence, Italy twenty years ago that ended with a salad. Add the spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until wilted. Here where I live in sarasota,fl. That’s true. What a good idea to add peas! Your recipe calls for a shallot. ), it’s on my Kindle now! It’s soooo simple and so truly amazing! I have some frozen peas, crème fraîche and some great cheeses left over from a dinner party Sunday evening. I’ve made Julia’s watercress soup many times, and I like the addition of the peas for color and sweetness. delicious creamy french watercress soup 1 tbsp coconut oil 1 onion roughly chopped 2 leeks sliced (include as much of the dark green part as you can) Make sure you consume the soup within a couple of days while it’s still fresh. The great thing about simple soups like this watercress soup, is that you can customize it with toppings, to take it in a variety of directions. Increase the heat to high, add the watercress and a pinch of salt, cover with a lid and cook for 30 seconds. Or whatever. The idea with the added peas is genius; I very often ‘throw together’ a soup (I call them ‘fridge cleaners’) and I add a table spoon full of Greek yoghurt or fromage blanc or sour milk (in Switzie) right in the middle of the filled bol. Perfect for a cold last day of February! I am from Winston-Salem, N.C. and we had a lovely French Restaurant in the 60″s….La Chaudiere. crème fraîche or heavy cream. Plus some bits of chopped shrimp, glass noodles and diced tofu. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat. Many translated example sentences containing "watercress soup" – French-English dictionary and search engine for French translations. 2. Ah I love the color on this. Pour into saucepan and heat slowly, stirring. Thanks for yummy recipe. Tags: Creme fraiche cresson onion peas recipe soup watercress watercress soup. It does seem like a nice way to finish off! Talking of watercress she says ‘they reckon it is a good thing to eat in the spring. Feb 2, 2016 - A peppery French soup with lively watercress and potatoes blended into a smooth bowlful of deliciousness. I get them at antique stores and flea markets in France, although they are hard to find nowadays. However, this time, before making the puree, stir in the watercress … A large bunch of watercress, stalks included (about 400g) 20g butter It looks delicious, and I’m in love with the color. Delia's Watercress and Potato Soup recipe. Watercress here in NZ used to have a great bite, as did radishes, and now neither of them do. Repeat. Add the water and diced potato and cook, partially covered, until the potato cubes are tender, about 10 minutes. Watercress soup is very quick to prepare and is delicious both hot and chilled. I love the idea of salad after a meal, although I haven’t tried it. Blend the soup and return to a clean pot. My mom makes a Chinese watercress soup with pork bones. This soup looks so delicious – what an amazing colour. But I gotta say, I’m a fan of soup for lunch as well, especially in the winter when I need something to warm me up. 1 shallot But most of the time, the salad arrives after the plat principal. Chop roughly and add the watercress to the mix. With regards to salad after a meal, I didn’t know anyone that did this in the UK, until I started dating my boyfriend. 1 pinch dried tarragon xo, Hey David, your website has a tab to look at all your older recipes, but is there a way to look at an archive of your non-recipe entries? Watercress is one of those ingredients I love at restaurants, but don’t think to purchase and bring home. Merci! Thank you for the recipe, it sounds good as well as being beautiful. Then, add the stock, it shall cover the vegetables. Watercress has tons of flavor, for example, so keeping it simple highlights that vibrant green color and zesty flavor of the cress. Add the cream. And as we all know, when life gives you lots of watercress, you make soup. Still remember the cheeses! Thanks Dave. 1 bunch watercress (3/4 pound; 330 grams) This one brought back a happy memory of my mother who absolutely loved watercress salad and soup. A comfort soup, with zucchini instead of potatoes thus starch free, very tasty with the characteristic flavors of watercress and turmeric. We always had the salad after the main course, it’s a great palate cleanser and makes room for cheese! Richard Grausman created his lighter version of the classic French watercress soup in his book, At Home With The French Classics. But I love salad too much to wait until I’m already pretty ‘full’ – so I suffer (very slightly) in silence when eating out and get my fill again when at home. Also, after reading this, I am craving le beurre bretagne enough to book a one-way ticket to France! A friend who used to live in Paris was visiting last week and I invited her to dinner. Sweetest butter I have tried here in the US. butter, melted 1 1/4 tsp. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Use the leaves from one bunch of watercress. Just ate an amazing saucisson de canard fumé with lunch. How I envy u. Dorothy Hartley’s 'Food in England' (one of my cookery bibles). I did throw a curveball into the mix, adding a handful of frozen green peas to give it some extra body and color. I read recently that there is a reason Americans call the main course the entree. Sauté onion and zucchini in olive oil, add watercress stems and … La soupe in parts of France refers to dinner (or supper), and soup is indeed a popular, family style meal in France, especially if served with bits and ends of cheese, charcuterie, and some good bread alongside. I find that by mashing the potatoes first, you get a particularly nice It’s delicious and now over 10 years later I always serve a salad after our main course – even though people think it’s strange. BIA makes a similar bowl, which has scalloped sides, and are less-costly. The after-dinner salad in France isn’t usually a complicated affair with tomatoes, eggs, croutons, and all other sorts of other things tossed in with it: it’s often a nice bowl of leafy greens with a punchy dressing. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Does it matter what kind of potato it is? French; watercress soup: soupe de cresson: almond soup: soupe aux amandes: asparagus in watercress sauce: asperges sauce cresson: be in the soup (fig.) Though I’ve spent my entire adult life in California, I still prefer my salad after the entree. Reminds of French butter. Watercress Soup (Soupe au Cresson) A deliciously French soup using fresh watercress, which is not only packed with vitamins but has a particularly gorgeous flavour – even a bit cheesy! The reason? When I was growing up overseas in the ’60s, we traveled around America every other summer and saw the salad-before-entree phenomenon migrate eastward. Now, it’s not a huge departure from what we normally do here at Salted Mint. It sounds like the French serve what we call side salads in America for a course, rather than a “meal salad”. I remember about twenty or so years ago, going to a “European style” restaurant in New York, and there was a note on the menu above the salad course, suggesting that you order it “after your meal, as a palate-cleanser.” It was funny that they made a point of that but perhaps nowadays, it might seem a little less “exotic”? Bring the broth or water to a boil. David, what salted butter do you reccomend here in France.? In the 1950s, my parents would go to small flowing streams in the woods of western Pennsylvania and gather their own! Peel and dice the shallot. Thanks for the inspiration and this fresh way to use it. I love that you compared the use of the word entree in French and English. Watercress soup is one of those great soups, like a lot of French dishes, that don’t necessarily require a lot of ingredients. Those are really enjoyable and it would be nice to be able to filter your posts to look at them rather than pressing next page again and again. What makes it even worse is that I lived in Paris for a yr. & a half. I just finished reading Dan Jurafsky’s ‘The Language of Food’, and there is an entire section (fittingly called Entree) on the evolution of food language. Watercress lends a peppery kick to this elegant springtime soup from The Paris Cookbook by Patricia Wells; garnished with heavy cream and caviar, it's a luxurious first course. As for shallots, I deal with them the same as onions — snap off a couple outer layers, then chop up the interior. They’re so incredibly peppery that I can’t eat them raw, and this is coming from someone who eats gojuchang like it’s ketchup. Thank you… Let me cry over my memories. Now, if only I had some nice French bread to go with it…. Or you can just serve it as it, with a selection of cheeses (that you might have leftover from guests the night before), and some good bread. Ah the perfect fresh green spring is coming, color. We are in soup mode @ taste2taste especially with the recent snow in NY and rain in London. the post! Looks nice and everyone swirls it in their own way or eats the ‘dump’ on its own before going over to the soup. A delicious watercress, onion and potato soup perfect as a starter or winter warmer for the colder months. I will try your cress soup. Big 2lb chunk you can divide and freeze. saucepan of water to a boil and add watercress; cook until bright green and wilted, about 3 minutes. I added peas to give it some extra body and to bolster the color, but you can leave them out if you wish. salt 1 egg yolk. 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