Creamy Fennel And Greens Soup Food

CREAMY FENNEL AND GREENS SOUP

Steps:

• Heat oil and butter in a 6-quart heavy pot over medium heat until foam subsides. Add fennel, onion, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes.
• Add leafy greens (but not spinach) and water to pot and simmer, covered, until greens are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in spinach and cook, uncovered, just until wilted, about 1 minute.
• Purée soup in batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids) until smooth, then return to pot. Stir in cream and lemon juice and reheat over low heat. Season with salt.
• Cooks' note:
• Soup can be made 2 days ahead and chilled (covered once cool). Reheat or serve cold.

CREAMY FENNEL SOUP WITH HERB SALAD

Steps:

• Remove the greens from the fennel stalks, chop them, and reserve. Cut the fennel bulbs and stalks into coarse pieces.
• Heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until soft, 7 minutes. Add the 1 clove garlic and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Increase the heat to high. Add the chopped fennel and the chicken stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the fennel is very tender, 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.
• Puree the soup, in batches, in a blender until very smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean soup pot. Add the cream, and season with salt and pepper.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and lemon juice. Add the reserved fennel greens and parsley, toss to coat, and season with salt and pepper. Set the herb salad aside
• Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the ground fennel seeds and stir for 30 seconds. Add the baguette slices in a single layer, and cook, turning once, until golden on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes total. Season with salt, to taste. Remove the baguette slices from the pan and rub each piece lightly on 1 side with the clove of garlic.
• Warm the soup over medium heat. Ladle it into bowls, place a baguette slice on top of each, and top each slice with some of the herb salad. Serve.

CREAM OF FENNEL SOUP

Steps:

• Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and cook onion until soft and translucent. Whisk in flour and stir until a paste forms, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk water and vegetable bouillon into the saucepan. Add fennel and bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until fennel is soft, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Puree soup with an immersion blender. Stir in cream. If soup is too thick, add more water as needed. Season with salt and pepper.
• Chop fennel fronds. Divide soup between 4 bowls and sprinkle with fennel fronds.

CREAMY FENNEL AND LEEK SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a large, deep (preferably non-stick) sauté pan, over a medium heat, add the sliced fennel (NOT the strips of fennel), sliced leek and finely chopped garlic, and sauté, while stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until the fennel, leeks and garlic are beginning to soften.
• Remove from the heat, and set aside.
• In a large pot, heat the stock, add the rosemary sprigs, thyme and nutmeg and bring to the boil.
• Simmer over a low heat for about 15 minutes.
• Remove the rosemary sprigs.
• Add the fennel, leek and garlic mixture to the pot, and stir to combine all the ingredients.
• Set the pan in which the fennel, leek and garlic were sautéed aside, for re-use later.
• Allow the soup to cool slightly (10 minutes cooling time should be ample), then blend it in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth.
• As each batch is blended, pour the blended soup into another pot or pan, perhaps the deep pan used earlier to sauté the fennel, leeks and garlic.
• Once all of the soup has been blended, stir it to ensure that it is of an even consistency (inevitably some batches were probably thinner than others).
• Stir the sour cream and the 1/4 cup of parmesan into the soup.
• Reheat the soup over a medium heat until it is hot, but do not allow it to come to the boil.
• Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Turn off the heat and leave the soup covered so that it stays warm.
• In a small non-stick pan, heat the oil, and sauté the extra leek for 2-3 minutes, or until softened but not browned.
• Ladle the soup into warm soup bowls and top with the sautéed leek.
• Garnish with the extra parmesan and sour cream, and serve immediately with warm crusty rolls.
• Chef's Note: Since posting this recipe, and since last making this soup, I have found and posted a fabulous recipe for vegetable, quite unlike others I have used in the past: Vegetable Stock Recipe #135453.

VEGETARIAN CREAM OF FENNEL SOUP

Steps:

• Combine star anise, cardamom pods, and coriander seeds in a large skillet over medium heat and roast without burning until fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a mortar and pestle, and crush into powder form.
• Heat olive oil in a large pot and cook fennel, onion, and leek until softened, about 5 minutes. Season with ground spice mix and salt, cover, and simmer over medium heat until flavors are well combined, about 25 minutes. Pour in white wine and cook until wine has reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour in vegetable broth and simmer for 10 minutes. Puree fennel soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Add cream and heat, but do not let boil. Season with salt.

CREAM OF FENNEL SOUP

Steps:

• Cut the feathery tops off the fennel bulbs. Finely mince two tablespoons of the green tops and set aside. Discard the woody stems. Chop the fennel bulbs medium fine.
• Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Add the onion and chopped fennel bulb, cover and cook over low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer 10 minutes longer.
• Puree the soup in a blender or a food processor. Return it to the saucepan and add the cream. Simmer for five minutes, then stir in the Pernod or Ricard and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Bring to a simmer. Serve the soup topped with a dusting of chopped fennel tops. If desired, float a teaspoon of caviar on top of each serving.