February. London. Wet. Grey. *Sigh*
When I feel :-/ (and boy does this weather get me down!) there is nothing like a warming bowl of soup.
Every mouthful feels like a cuddle - an embrace of salty-herby-vegetal nurture.
Florence fennel - one of my top five vegetables is an crisp aniseedy bulb when fresh and raw. It grills and bakes really well - typically I serve it with fish. When "souped" up the aniseed flavour is far milder - adding a base note rather than running the show.
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| Ingredients: fennel, onion, parsley, dill, herbie salt, garlic and a little bouillon | |
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The herbie salt is worth a mention. In French markets there is typically a stall selling dried herbs in a wide range of mixes or "melanges". One of my all time faves from the western side of the country is the mixture of the grey salt known as sel de Guerande - a pretty market town in Atlantic coastal Brittany - and dried herbs. An example would be Herbes de Provence (H. de P.) but really any mix of herbs works. There is some hidden alchemy when adding this to a soup or as a flavouring for roasted fish. Try mixing a 50-50 mix of sea salt with some H. de P. and see for yourself! I am obsessed with it and it is a mainstay in my kitchen or when on the cooking on the road.
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| Preppage | |
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Chop the onion and fennel to roughly equal size. Finely chop the parsley, dill and some of the fennel herb (the top of the fennel bulb) to get about a tablespoon of each. Boil enough water to just cover. Add 25 g each of butter and olive oil to a thick bottomed pan. When foaming add the onion, fennel and garlic and soften, ensuring everything is well covered in the fat.
Once softened and the water is boiling, turn up the heat and add about a tablespoon of herbie salt and a pinch of bouillon if using. Then add water to JUST cover. Bring to a simmer. Turn down heat and cover for 20 minutes.
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| After 20 minutes or so the soup should be looking like this. Taste: you should be getting salt, dried herbs and onion mainly. As I said the fennel is a base note. Make sure the veg is soft before blending! |
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| With a hand blender whizz and ensure everything is blended. | | | | |
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Then KEEP GOING! The idea is to froth the soup to get a velvety texture. It makes a really big difference to the overall texture which is crucial in a soup.
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| Blended and fresh herbs added. |
Now add the the finely chopped dill, parsley and fennel herb and stir well. We are now ready to serve and eat.
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| I added some good olive oil and some ground black pepper |
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I can eat litres of this stuff - especially when the colour of the sky is as miserable as this. At least my belly is smiling on the inside.
