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
- 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.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet and simmer the vegetables until tender, usually in about 20 minutes.
- 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.
- Blast the soup in a food processor or blender, pour it into a pot over low heat.
- Add the cream to the pot and stir the soup until hot but do not let it boil or the cream will curdle.
- 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.