Watercress soup

Watercress soup is among the recipes John Gonzalez includes in his Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook. It purports to evoke the cookery of the place and time without making a spurious claim to culinary authenticity. Some of the recipes run far afield of the British canon but not this one. About 6 servings.

• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• white part of a leek, sliced into the thinnest rounds
• a peeled and thinly sliced russet potato
• a bunch of watercress, trimmed of all large stems and chopped
• ¼ cup chicken stock
• about ¼ teaspoon cayenne
• another 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup scalded heavy cream
• salt and pepper
• minced scallion greens

1. Melt the butter in a big heavy skillet over medium heat and add the leek, potato, watercress and cayenne along with the ¼ cup of stock.
2. Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet and simmer the vegetables until tender, usually in about 20 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the stock and the milk, bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet and cook for 20 minutes.
4. Blast the soup in a food processor or blender, pour it into a pot over low heat.
5. Add the cream to the pot and stir the soup until hot but do not let it boil or the cream will curdle.
6. Check the seasoning and serve the soup with a scatter of scallion.

Notes:

-Gonzales uses water instead of the first tranche of stock.

-He does not scald the cream; it does help forestall curdling.

-The cayenne and scallions are our additions.