Recipe : Spring Watercress soup

Spring has sprung, and nothing tastes more spring-like than Watercress soup.

This recipe is a pretty easy soup you can make for a spring lunch, starter or a light dinner.

Ingredients

120ml olive oil
40g butter
50g short-grain rice, soaked for half an hour
125g spring onions, trimmed and sliced
1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced
200g leeks, outer leaves removed, cut in half lengthways and thinly sliced
200g watercress, leaves and stalks separated
400 ml Veg (or chicken) stock or water
1 tsp salt
4 grinds black pepper

Method

Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan over a medium heat.

Rinse the rice in cold water and add to the pan, followed by the spring onions, garlic, leeks and watercress stalks. Sweat for five minutes, until the leeks have softened, being careful not to brown the rice.

Add 400ml of veg stock or water.

Once the rice is cooked, add the watercress leaves, stir until wilted, then remove from the heat and whiz in a blender.

Season with the salt and black pepper and serve.

This recipe is an edited version of a recipe from Margot Henderson in the Guardian. Margot is chef/co-owner of Rochelle Canteen, London E2