Courgette Soup with Watercress
and Pecorino Pesto
This light
summer soup is perfect for late summer when courgettes are
cheap and plentiful. Serve each bowl with a spoonful of the watercress and
Pecorino pesto zigzagged over the surface of the soup.
Serves : 4 – 6
Ingredients:
1lb / 450g Courgettes, diced
with their skins left on
2oz / 50g Butter
4oz / 110g Potatoes,
peeled and diced
1 Large Onion, chopped
1 Clove Garlic,
finely chopped
1½ Pints /
850ml Chicken or Vegetable Stock
5 floz / 150ml Single Cream
Salt and Freshly Milled
Black Pepper
FOR THE PESTO:
2oz / 50g Watercress
1 Small Clove Garlic,
crushed
1 tbsp Pine Nuts
6 tbsp Extra Virgin
Olive Oil
1oz / 25g Pecorino
Romano or Parmesan,
grated
Salt
Instructions:
1.
Begin by melting
the butter gently in
a large saucepan, add the potatoes, courgettes, onion and garlic and stir
everything around so the vegetables are glossy and covered in butter.
2.
Add a
little salt and
freshly milled black
pepper, then partially cover the pan and leave the vegetables to sweat, to
release the buttery juices, on a low heat for 15 minutes.
3.
Now add
the stock, bring the soup back to simmering point and cook very gently for a
further 7 – 10 minutes, again partially covered, or until the potatoes are soft and
the courgettes
are just tender.
4.
While the
soup is simmering, make the pesto. All you do is put the watercress (stalks
and all), garlic, pine nuts and olive oil, together
with some salt, in a
food processor or blender and whiz until you have a smooth purée.
5.
Then
transfer the purée to a bowl and stir in the grated Pecorino (or Parmesan) cheese.
6.
When the
soup is ready, cool it a little, then purée it in a blender until smooth – you
will probably need to do this in two batches, so have a large bowl nearby to
pour the first batch into.
7.
Next, put
the whole lot back in the saucepan, stir in the cream, then gently re-heat the soup.
8.
Ladle it
into bowls, top each one with a spoonful of the pesto and, using a skewer or
the tip of a small knife, zigzag the pesto all over the surface of the soup.
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