Shanghai. Shanghai. We need to have a little chat me and you.
One day you’re all blue skies and ‘Look at Me’ {we’ll talk about the cold another time – let’s focus for now}.
And the next you’re all sullen and…..In. A. Really. Bad. Mood.
And y’know something? I really don’t appreciate it when that bad mood stays around for a week.
Last night when we went to bed we were well and truly over your sulking.
Spending all weekend on the naughty chair must have done the trick though because look what greeted me this morning. Thank you!
See – it’s much nicer when we get along don’t you think?
One good thing about your crankiness lately is that I wake up and think of soup.
{Because you know, I never think of food immediately upon waking. Ever.}
Soup to nourish and soothe the soul.
Watercress soup is what came to mind last week. Now, my Mum’s watercress soup is the best in the world and no matter how hard I try I can’t replicate it. Actually I could say the same of Mum’s chicken soup, her roast beef & Yorkshire puddings, Mum’s roast chicken, the birthday sachertorte….
It’s impossible to add a warm, fuzzy childhood memory into a recipe isn’t it? Don’t you wish you could bottle that and keep it in your kitchen for ever?
Back to the soup.
This one got hit with the ugly stick – not unlike Shanghai last week.
Now if you want your soup to be all perky green you’ll have to blanch your watercress first, plunge it into ice cold water and then add it to the stock and blitz straight away. You could get away with adding it to the hot stock for just five minutes, but I got distracted and it was cooking away for longer.
Mum always adds milk to her soup but I don’t just because I rarely have milk in the fridge – I know. Weird.
Don’t ask.
Anyway. Focus. What we were talking about?
Oh yes. Ugly sticks.
You’re just going to have to trust me and it’s not like I don’t have history of posting ugly food around these parts is it? Remember the Cambodian caramelised pork – which I have to say still tastes amazing every time I make it.
Trust me – this soup will warm the cockles of your heart.
It will take you to the place where blue skies live permanently, where unicorns fly over rainbows and no one wears pollution masks.
You trust me right?
Watercress soup
A really quick soup that’s ready in 20 minutes or less if you can buy pre-washed watercress.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Ingredients
-
2
tbsp
olive oil -
1
onion
finely chopped -
1
largish sweet potato
chopped into 2cm chunks {approx 350g) 1 large bunch watercress, washed and roughly chopped {approx 250g} -
600
g
vegetable stock - salt & pepper
-
Yogurt
sour cream or cream for garnish.
Instructions
-
Warm the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add onion. Cook until soft, but not coloured then add sweet potato. Cover and sweat for 5 minutes, add vegetable stock and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
-
Check to see that the sweet potato is tender, then add the watercress, stir and cook for another 5 minutes.
-
Blitz the soup either in a blender or with a stick blender and check for seasoning – lots of pepper is good!
-
Serve with a dollop of yogurt for garnish and an extra drizzle of peppery olive oil.
The naughty chair is staying right over there in the corner – but welcome back to being in the good books Shanghai.
Seen any unicorns lately? What’s going on outside your kitchen window?