Spinach and watercress soup

I am rushing a bit today but I wanted to share this delicious soup recipe with you. The base of this soup is basically the potage parmentier recipe that I posted on a few weeks ago that I adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertolle. That recipe (leek and potato soup in case your French is as good as mine) is a delicious meal in itself but I have given it a bit of pep by adding some fresh spinach and watercress. 

  • 500g of peeled and cubed potatoes
  • 250g of very finely chopped leek
  • 1½ pints of vegetable stock
  • 100g fresh spinach and watercress
  • Salt and pepper
  • 50g butter
  • 2 tablespoons of double cream (optional)
  1. Cook the potato and leek in the vegetable stock until the vegetables are tender. Using the back of a fork roughly mash the potato.
  2. In a small pan bring a small amount of water to the boil (probably less than an inch of water) and cook the spinach and watercress for a minute. With a hand held blender, roughly blend the spinach, watercress and the water into a course soup.
  3. Add the spinach and watercress to the the leek and potato soup and stir in well.
  4. Season the soup with salt and pepper and stir in the butter and cream.