Broccoli and Watercress Soup

More soup, but this time a lovely vibrant green one for spring. Watercress is supposed to cleanse the blood, and what with the antioxidants and vitamins in the other main ingredients - potatoes and calabrese broccoli - this seems like a good way to detox and fight a bit of a spring cold I have picked up.  Of course, sploshing a couple of tablespoons of cream in probably undid it all, but sod it!  Usual start: large chopped onion or leek, sweated in about 25g of butter (butter has anti-viral properties, so perfectly acceptable!).  Add a good-sized head of calabrese broccoli, stalk and all, chopped.  Now add a couple of medium-sized, peeled potatoes, chopped.  I like a good floury one, like King Edward's.  Stir into the buttery juices for a few minutes then pour in about 750mls of veg stock - Marigold is fine - and quite a bit of black pepper, which echoes the watercress (wait for it!).  Simmer for 20 minutes, then throw in a bunch or bag of watercress, stalks too.  Simmer for another minute or two, then blend with a stick blender until all combined.  Stir in a little cream or milk and serve quickly to preserve the vivid green.

Jerusalem Artichoke and Watercress Soup

Both the main ingredients for this soup turned up in the Riverford Seasons box, and were perfect together in a classic cream soup.  Made the usual way - an onion softened in a little butter along with a couple of handfuls of peeled Jerusalem artichokes, chopped small.  Whilst they are softening, remove the leaves from a big bunch or bag of watercress, and add the chopped watercress stalks to the softened artichokes and onions.  Just cover with some vegetable stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Chuck in the watercress leaves, and allow to soften in the hot soup for just a minute, then blend it all together until smooth, using a hand blender if possible.  If liked, stir in some single or double cream, but the artichokes are creamy enough not to need it.  Just lovely.  Any leftovers will lose the bright, vivid green, but will still taste delicious.

Watercress Soup with Kohlrabi and Wild Garlic

Based on a Simon Hopkinson recipe that uses turnip, but as I got kohlrabi in the veg box this week, I substituted that instead. The wild garlic also arrived in the veg box and was so pungent that I had to put it outside, as it made the whole flat smell! This is just a classic watercress soup recipe with some additions: a couple of leeks, whites only (or onions if you don't have leeks) sweated in some butter, along with the whites of the wild garlic - about two stems. Add a good 250g of peeled chopped kohlrabi or turnip and allow to sweat until all is soft. Add a pint of light stock and bring to the boil, then simmer until everything is really tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, wash a bunch of watercress and chop the toughest stems off. Chop them finely and add to the simmering soup. Save the leaves of the cress and garlic until last. When all is cooked, throw in the watercress leaves and finer stalks and the reserved wild garlic green leaves, bring to the boil and then immediately blend until smooth. 'Let' the soup down a little with some milk or cream, but not too much. Eat as soon as possible before that wonderful vibrant green goes.

Fennel, Watercress and Pear Salad [#163]

We had doubts about Nigel's suggestion of serving this salad with a dish of haddock, bacon and parsley, so served it, instead, with his Macaroni with Fontina and Mustard, a much more satisfactory combination. Dead simple salad of watercress topped with shaved Florence fennel (it HAS to be paper-thin) and thin slices of a delicious crisp Williams pear from Italy. The dressing was nice too - lime juice and olive oil, simply seasoned with salt and pepper. I think, next time, I might sprinkle over some toasted walnuts or similar for even more texture. Really nice salad, though, do try it!

Carrot Salad [#142]

No online recipe for this, and it hardly needs one. The idea is to grate some lovely juicy new season's carrots, dress with lots of lemon juice, walnut oil, and seasoning, and pile onto watercress. I added mint leaves too, and toasted pine kernels rather than the peanuts Nigel suggested, as they were more in keeping with the overall Middle-Eastern vibe of the meal. Lovely, healthy and refreshing.

A Cooling Crab Salad [#89]

This recipe was meant to be for a hot day! Instead, we ate it on a grey and cool late-May evening. Still, it made us think of our warm, sunny holiday in Cornwall and The West Country last week, where I enjoyed Brown Crab on Toast at Mark Hix's Oyster & Fish House in Lyme Regis. This recipe depends utterly on the freshness of its ingredients - so I ordered a tub each of Seafood and Eat It white and brown crab from Ocado. It was spankingly fresh. However, unlike Nigel's recipe which calls for 300g of white crab meat for two people, I made do with 100g of white mixed with about 20g of brown, and this was plenty, being such a rich product. The rest will go into crab fishcakes for tomorrow. Surprisingly delicious and delicate dish - nearly missed the ginger out of the dressing, which would have been disastrous, so thanks to hubby for spotting my omission!

Try as I might, I can't track down an online recipe, which is a shame - essentially it is a composed salad of watercress, melon, cucumber, crab, dressed in lime juice, sugar, grated ginger and masses of mint. Go get the book!

Chicken Salad with Almonds, Watercress and Orange [#73]

Perfect with the remains of a succulent roast chicken from Sunday. I used pine nuts, toasted with soy, rather than the almonds - we had enough of those in the cake at tea-time! I also substitued walnut oil and cider vinegar in the dressing instead of Nigel's olive and red-wine, which blended well with the orange juice and mustard. With the addition of a few crisp croutons and some sweet iceberg to supplement the watercress, we had a lovely light and elegant main-course salad, ideal after the slightly sweet overload of the day! (well, it is Easter, and we've had no chocolate eggs!). By the way, just 'cos it's a salad doesn't mean we shouldn't still look for the best ingredients. Organic Watercress from John Hurd is really worth seeking out and is in season now through until the Autumn