Creamy Spinach Fennel Soup
Truly there must be a
problem when I go to the supermarket even when I don’t absolutely need to…okay
well I was getting one thing that was
pretty important, since it was for breakfast, and breakfast being the most
important meal of the day therefore making my trip important. Plus it was close
to the gym. Like the logic? Good. I’m sticking to it.
Whilst I headed towards
the bread section to pick up a pack of crumpets (available at Trader Joe's)
– bread that looks like a biscuit and tastes like pancakes, what!?! I know! AND has no
fat and low in calories, food from the
gods to a carb lover like me - of course, I chose the long route. Next thing you know my
eyes started to wander around, a dangerous habit I really should take care of,
and landed on fennel bulbs. Well I’ve always heard of people using fennels in
soups and such, and since I was planning on making soup, I thought this would
be a great time to try it out. See that? Justification for buying stuff I don’t
absolutely need. Regardless, when it was time to go before I did anymore
damage, 2 fennel bulbs left with me.
Cooking with fennel is a
first for me; I have these bulbous looking things, and have no idea how to
handle them. I am so glad I live in a time period where if you don’t know
something, someone else who does is just a mouse click away. You Tube to the
rescue! One video later, I realized how easy it was to cut it. Treat it like an
onion except make sure you core the center out and cut off the stalks before
anything else. Then chop like you would an onion, simple (thank goodness). I also didn’t know what a fennel smelled or tasted
like, just figured if it’s that popular with people then it must be good. I’m a
brave soul aren’t I? Going in blind. Well luckily it’s not horrible but it’s
not my favorite either. Fresh fennel reminded me of black licorice thanks to its
anise aroma…I wish I knew that before buying. Note I hate the smell of black licorice which made me hate the black
marker back in the days when we use to use those scented markers to color with
in elementary school. Why would anyone think that a kid wants to smell that!?
Black couldn’t smell like dark chocolate and brown to smell like coffee?? Nope,
black licorice, yuck. Lucky here the smell is mild but still distinct, I’d know
that smell anywhere. I should’ve known that it was trouble when it’s shaped
like celery (not a fan of celery either, the only time it’s acceptable is when
it’s in a soup stock).
Well since I got myself
into this mess, I’m going to tread forward, hoping that like celery it’ll do
well in a soup. Ah and it did! Once it’s been incorporated into the soup, it
was beautiful. Maybe it’s the concentrated anise aroma I don’t like, too much
of a good thing equals bad or too much bad equal worst? Who knows…
Once again with nutrition
in mind, I decided I wanted to make this a potato base soup for its creaminess
and in addition to the fennel, I wanted more, so I added spinach. Clearly my go-to vegetable when I want more nutrients and why not?! Can never go wrong there!
Creamy Spinach Fennel Soup
Makes 3-4 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 fennel bulb, chopped
- 1 cup fresh spinach
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large white onion, chopped ¼” pieces
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1- 2 large potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 cup milk
- salt
- ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup heavy cream or crème fraiche (optional, I sometimes put this in my creamy soups but omitted it for this particular recipe however the option is here)
Procedures:
- In a medium (4-qt.) soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add the onion and fennel to cook, stirring frequently, until lightly brown, about 5 min. Scoop out half of the fennel onion mix and set aside. Add the broth and potato, partially cover, and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 min.
- Take out about ½ the amount of potatoes and set aside
- In a food processor or in small batches in a blender, purée the mixture with fresh spinach and return it to the pot.
- Add the milk, reserved potatoes, and reserved fennel onion mix; bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 min
- Remove from heat, stir in the cream, taste, and season with salt and pepper.
- Serve in warm bowls garnished with cream if desired.
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