Wintercress and Cheddar Soup
Although we have begun to see warmer days, the nights are still cold and in my household I will take every excuse to drag out soup season. The best part of spring is that our refrigerator starts to become filled with fresh nutritious greens and that’s something that always sparks inspiration for me in the kitchen. This past weekend, my mom came to visit, and we took her out to spend some time in the beautiful weather. We had made plans to go out and forage that day after she left, but I decided we should take her out since I wanted to introduce her to a new green she hadn’t had the pleasure of tasting yet: Wintercress.
Right alongside a stream we often pass while hiking, there grows this nutritious, bitter plant. If you’re like my mate Clay, you can eat it raw, freshly picked. I will say however, that it is quite bitter and hard to handle in it’s raw, unaltered state. We’ve tried it cooked on pizza, and by heating it, the bitterness definitely mellows out and its quite enjoyable. This year, I wanted to use it in another application, so I created a spin off of broccoli and cheddar soup and used Wintercress instead. Broccoli is delicious, don’t get me wrong, but using a wild green in place of it allows me to feed my family a dinner that is much more nutritious and local, and keeps us in touch with our surrounding landscape. I whipped up this soup, and had to head into our favorite bagel spot Bubbie’s Bagels right here in TC to grab some “dipping utensils”. I brought home the bagels, smeared them with some wild leek butter, and added another hit of a recipe to my repertoire.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about how you like it! Leave a comment below and share your experience.
Wintercress and Cheddar Soup
Serves 4
115g Wintercress Greens, including flowering stems
55g Wild Leek Bulbs, chopped
20g Grass Fed Butter
20g Wheat Flour
16 oz. Whole Milk
16 oz. Broth of your choice, I used chicken
60g Cream Cheese
155g Mild Cheddar
3 Slices bacon, cooked and cut into thin strips
Melt butter in a large pot, and add wild leek bulbs. Stir until caramelized and translucent.
Slowly sprinkle in the wheat flour while continuously stirring, and cook the roux until it is golden in color and thickened. Add the broth, one cup at a time over medium heat, making sure each cup is fully incorporated before adding the next.
Continue stirring until the soup is just about to a boil then add in the wintercress greens and stems. Simmer until the greens have become tender.
Slowly stream in the milk and bring to a simmer. Once hot, turn off the flame and allow to slightly cool. Add the cream cheese and then the cheddar, a handful at a time. If the soup is too hot, the cheese may seize up, so take your time.
At this point, you can cool the soup even longer, and then blend half or all of the soup depending on your preference for texture.
Once blended, garnish with bacon strips. and heavy cream, and serve with your choice of bagel or baguette.
Enjoy!