Watercress Soup with chive creme

Watercress Soup with Chive Cream

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
2 banana shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200-300g of watercress
A few sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
One large potato, peeled and roughly chopped
50ml white wine
600ml vegetable stock
salt and pepper

Decoration: (optional)
50ml single cream
chives, finely chopped
salt and pepper
sprig of watercress

Preparation:
1. Separate the leaves from the stalks of the watercress. Chop the stalks roughly and put the leaves in a bowl and set aside.

Cooking:
1. Place a heavy bottomed pan on the stove and add the olive oil and chopped shallots. Sweat the shallots for 10 min, stirring continuously to prevent coloration.
* i learnt i nice trick to prevent burning the shallots - add a tbsp of water and continue stirring. Once it evaporates just repeat
2. Add the crushed garlic, thyme leaves, potato and watercress stalks.
3. Stir in the wine and reduce until there's no wine left and add the stock.
4. Bring to boil then reduce the temperature and let simmer for 20 min.
5. In the meantime, prepare the cream. Simply add the chopped chives to the cream and season with salt and pepper.
6. Once the soup is done, transfer it into a blender and blitz to a smooth pureed soup. Just before serving add the watercress leaves and blend it all together. Season with salt and pepper.
Always add the watercress leaves at the end to get that vibrant green color.
7. Serve in a bowl and drizzle with the chives cream or simply decorate with a sprig of watercress and some pepper.