Watercress soup is a versatile dish with endless recipe options. Tips include removing stems, adding watercress at the end of cooking, and using an immersion blender. Heavy cream should be added just before removing from heat.
There are endless recipes and options when it comes to making watercress soup, a light or creamy dish in which spicy watercress is the star ingredient. Regardless of which recipe you choose, some good tips for making this dish include removing the stems from the watercress and waiting until the soup is almost done cooking before adding it to the rest of the ingredients. To protect yourself from injury and counters from a mess, puree the soup in batches in a blender or use an immersion blender when following recipes that call for this step. Often, recipes suggest a small amount of heavy cream, often to balance out the piquancy of the watercress; however, this ingredient should always be added just before the soup is removed from the heat.
Watercress stalks leave a lot to be desired when it comes to texture, often being tough, which isn’t usually desired in a soup. Even if you plan on blending everything together, it’s still wise to remove the thickest part of the stems before cooking with them. If you’re making a watercress soup that doesn’t require mixing, use only the thin leaves and stems near the base to maintain the dish’s texture and palatability.
As with any soup where delicate greens are used, one of the best tips for making the watercress version is to add the main ingredient at the end of the cooking time. In order to get the best flavor, you need to simmer the stock and other ingredients together, but the time taken for this step in most recipes can turn fresh watercress to mush. For this reason, the watercress should only be added when there are about 5 to 7 minutes left in the cooking time if you are just simmering the soup, or 3 to 4 minutes if the recipe calls for it to boil.
Some of the more popular types of watercress soups are the pureed varieties, where all the ingredients are blended together to create a thick, creamy dish. Blending hot soup, however, can be both dangerous and messy. If you’re using a blender, it’s best to puree the soup a ladleful full at a time, even if there seems to be a lot of room. When it’s too full, the hot soup can burn your hand as you hold the lid on the blender or blow the lid off completely, sending watercress soup all over the kitchen. Ideally, an immersion blender should be used, as this allows everything to be mixed at once in the same pot it is cooked in.
A hugely popular addition to watercress soup is heavy cream, although the timing of adding this ingredient is crucial. A naturally sweet, heavy spread can help balance out the spiciness of watercress and other peppery ingredients, such as horseradish. Despite this, cream should never be boiled when added to soup, as the heat can scald it and spoil its flavour. Instead, be sure to add it right before or right after you take the watercress soup off the heat. The soup will still be hot enough to heat the cream, but not too hot to burn it.
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