Ingredients
- Cream of Fennel, Leek and Potato Soup with Dill Crema and Cucumber and Lemon Gremolata
- This soup can be served hot or cold and is a take on the classic French vichyssoise soup. Save some of the fennel fronds if you would rather make the crema with fennel or garnish the soup with the fennel fronds. The soup is also good without the crema and gremolata garnishes but makes the soup a little more fancy if you want to serve it to guests.
- Serves 4-6
- 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
- 1 small fennel bulb, cut into chunks
- 2 leeks, cleaned, and sliced
- 2 russet potatoes or 3 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, diced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup crème fraiche or sour cream
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill, plus several sprigs for garnish
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 4 tablespoons of finely diced cucumber, seeds removed
Instructions
In a large saucepan add butter over medium high heat. Add leeks and sauté until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add fennel and potato and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté for 4 minutes and add chicken stock and water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and allow to cook until the vegetables are very tender.
Carefully transfer soup to a food processor, blender or use a hand held immersion blender and process the soup until it is smooth. Return soup to saucepan and bring to a boil. Add cream and reduce to medium high and cook for 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning.
In a mini processor, add crème fraiche and dill and pulse several seconds. Put crema in a piping bag or plastic sandwich bag and reserve.
In a small bowl, combine lemon zest and cucumber and mix well.
The soup can be served hot or cold. To garnish the soup, cut a small section of the piping bag or sandwich bag and drizzle over soup. Sprinkle the cucumber mixture in center and garnish with a fresh sprig of dill.
