Super-Tasty Watercress Soup

Watercress is at its best at the moment and, served alongside a couple of slices of soda bread, this soup is a delicious, attractive, and filling lunch for two. It’s also pretty healthy, counts as one of your 5 a day, is simple to make... and can easily be ‘veganised’!

Watercress is a good source of vitamins C, B1, and B6, as well as being a good source of iron and calcium. Most people are unlikely to eat watercress in big amounts on its own, but this soup is a great way of consuming enough to get the benefit from this ‘superfood’.

And the best news is that this is so scrumptious that I was tempted to lick the blender clean! (Don’t try that at home!)

Ingredients (For 2 big bowl-fulls!):

• A generous knob of butter (or 1tbs olive oil if preferred)
• 1 small medium onion, chopped
• 1 tsp lazy garlic paste (or clove of finely chopped garlic)
• 1 medium white potato (chopped into small pieces)
• 500-600ml vegetable stock (depending on how thick you like your soup)
• 150g watercress (we used British organic watercress)
• Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1.  Soften the chopped onion and garlic in a saucepan over a medium heat in the butter, until the onion is transparent (the onions shouldn’t brown).

2. Add the potato and pour over the vegetable stock. Simmer over a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the potato is just softening, but not yet starting to break down.

3. Add the watercress to the pan for no longer than 1-2 minutes, so that it is just wilted. Resisting the urge to overcook the watercress means that it will stay a lovely vibrant green.

4. Transfer from the pan to a blender in batches, and blend until smooth.

5. Pour the blended soup back into a saucepan and gently reheat, adding salt and pepper to taste.

6. Serve the warm soup with a slice or two of soda bread. (For me, there's no better bread to have with soup!)

Enjoy!

[This recipe was adapted from a recipe on the BBC Good Food website.]