Potato & Watercress Soup

Another quick, cheap and easy recipe for a nice lunch or as part of a hearty winter banquet.

Serves one as a lunch (well, it does if you’re like me and can happily devour a pint of soup) or two as a starter.

• Knob of marg / 1-2 tsp oil
• 1/4 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped or crushed (optional)
• 1 medium potato (around 200g), diced into 1cm pieces
• A good large, loose handful of watercress, stalks and all, roughly chopped
• 500ml hot light stock / water
• 1 tsp fresh herb of choice, chopped (parsley and basil are both good)(optional)
• A few tbs milk / vegan cream / stock / water
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the marg / oil in a pot over a medium heat for a minute then add the onion. Cook for a few minutes, stirring regularly, until starting to soften. Add the spuds (and garlic if using) along with a grind of pepper and cook for another couple of minutes.

Pour on the stock / water, bring to a soft boil then cover. Cook until the potatoes are just about soft enough to eat then add the watercress, cover again, and cook for another couple of minutes.

Remove from heat, add the herbs then liquidise everything. It’ll probably be slighly too thick, so add your choice of liquid to get it nice and creamy – you should end up with around 500ml of soup. If you can do it in a proper liquidiser, you’ll end up with a silky smooth and slightly frothy liquid that’s a joy to shove in your gob.

Pour back into the pan and reheat briefly while stirring gently until just starting to bubble. Give it a quick taste and season some more if needed. Pour into bowl then pour into self.