wild garlic and watercress soup

This wild garlic and watercress soup is such an easy classic to make and so tasty. You need to have wild garlic to hand which is fortunate because now is wild garlic season, so time to get down to the local market or if you’re lucky, go and find some out in the wild.  We’re lucky enough to have a little hidden valley near to the cottage that has plenty of the stuff seemingly growing everywhere.  The smell is quite intoxicating it would be hard to mistake it for anything else.  Don’t forget to ask permission from the landowner before you go rooting around! Only take what you need.

A couple of years ago we carefully dug up a few bulbs from the wood and planted them in a shady corner of our garden.  Each year we get a little clump of wild garlic which feels very special.  You really don’t need much as it’s quite pungent.  I prefer to use it as a herb, cooked into things, rather than raw in a pesto because it has a tendency to repeat on me if I don’t cook it!

My measurements are quite ‘rough and ready’ for this soup as I really feel you can include any green veg in any amount, it’s all about what you have around and a little bit of trial and error. The Watercress Company have some amazing watercress right now.

You can also find some more of my wild garlic recipes here.

• 1 medium onion – finely chopped
• 1 stick of celery – finely chopped
• 4 new potatoes – finely chopped
• fresh thyme and garlic – crushed or grated
• 2 bunches of watercress – roughly chopped (stalks and all)
• roughly 10 wild garlic leaves – roughly chopped
• 100g fresh baby spinach – roughly chopped
• 150g frozen peas
• 1 litre good quality vegetable stock

In a large soup pan, melt some butter with a little olive oil and throw in the celery, onion and potatoes.  Stir them well and let them sauté gently until tender – roughly 5-8 mins

Stir in the crushed garlic and fresh thyme – if you can get it, and let them sauté for a few mins more before adding all the leaves.

Turn the heat right down, place a lid on the pot and let the leaves wilt.  This should take about 2 – 3 minutes.  Once they’re wilted, stir them around and then stir in the frozen peas and a little fresh black pepper. Let it all sauté gently for another couple of minutes.

Pour in the stock, turn the heat to medium and let it gently bubble away for about 15 mins.

Take the pan off the heat and let it cool for a good 10 mins before whizzing with a stick blender.  You can in fact keep in like a pottage, unblended.  Or even half-blend it to keep some texture but I prefer it smooth.

Serve with some crunchy croutons!

Eat and of course, enjoy!