Cook Share and Feast

Watercress is an aquatic or semi aquatic plant belongs to family Cruciferae (mustard family).  It has a slight bitter and pungent taste.  Watercress can be added to sandwiches or to salads to add extra strong taste.  Watercress contains a significant amount of iron, calcium, folic acid, and vitamins such as A and C.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 2 medium leeks (white and pale green parts of leeks only) + 1 green leaf of a leek
• ½ lb potatoes (Russet is better)
• 1 large garlic clove
• 3 ½ cups vegetable stock
• About ¾ lb watercress (thick stem removed)
• ¾ cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Peel, wash and cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes.
• Set aside 2 inch piece of leek and cut the rest into thin rounds.
• Chop garlic into very small pieces
• In a heavy saucepan heat oil and add garlic and leek and sauté for about 3 minutes
• Add potatoes and cook about 3 – 4 minutes stirring constantly.
• Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil and reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender
• Add watercress and simmer for about 5 minutes
• Cool for a couple of minutes and puree soup in a blender until smooth
• Transfer soup back to saucepan and stir in milk and heat lightly
• Season with salt and pepper
• Transfer soup into bowls and add lemon juice
• Top with fried leeks
• For Topping:  Slit the 2 inch piece leek and cut them lengthwise into thin strips.  Cut the leaf also into thin strips.  Half fill a small pan with oil and once hot (until a cube of bread crumb browns in 30 seconds) add the shredded leek and deep-fry for about a minute or until browned and crisp
• Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 2 cups peeled, seeded and cubed butternut squash
• ½ cup cubed potatoes
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• ¼ cup 2% milk
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Parmesan cheese to sprinkle (optional)

Method:

• Add butter to skillet.  Once butter start melting add onion and sauté for about 5 minutes or onion becomes soft
• Add squash, potatoes, vegetable stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft
• Pour soup to a blender and puree until smooth
• Return back to the saucepan and add milk and heat until the soup is heater through
• Add salt and pepper to taste
• Pour soup into bowls and sprinkle with cheese
• Serves 2

When making a soup, I have seen a lot of additional ingredients being added like tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, heavy cream etc.  So I thought to make this very simple soup without any additional stuff.  I love the smell of roasted pepper.  So I thought to omit any tomato paste or tomato puree to make sure the soup definitely has that strong roasted pepper flavor.  Also I used just 2% milk instead of heavy cream.

Ingredients:            

• 2 Bell peppers (1 orange and 1 red)
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• Few rosemary sprigs (fresh is better, but since I did not have it, I used the dried one)
• ½ cup chopped red onion
• 250 ml Vegetable stock
• ¼ cup 2% milk
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Method

• Turn on oven to the broiler setting with temperature 450F.
• Put the peppers in the broiler pan and roast until the skin is blackened and blisters are formed

• Cool for a couple of minutes and peel off the skin (do not wash after washing since this will remove some of the flavorful oils from the pepper)
• Chop the flesh into small pieces.
• Add oil to a deep saucepan and when hot add onion and rosemary and cook on low flame for about 5 minutes.
• Remove the rosemary sprig and discard
• Now add the peppers and vegetable stock to the onion and bring to a boil
• Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes
• Let cool a bit and process the soup in a processor to a smooth puree.
• Add soup back to the saucepan and add milk
• Slowly heat for about 2 minutes
• Season with salt and pepper
• Serve hot (or chilled)
• Yields: 2 servings.