Is it seriously Sunday already? Where did my relaxing weekend go? I guess that’s what happens when you have a child with the flu, Thanksgiving, a Birthday celebration and a sleepover with 4 tweens all in one long weekend. I should have known it was going to end like this, but for some reason I was hoping for a little quiet time somewhere in between all that. If I can make sure the rest of the family doesn’t get the flu, then maybe everything will be ok.
Nothing is as it should be right now. It is hard to explain – but even my husband agrees that my universe is just plain off. The reasons why are just too difficult to explain, but even he had no advice to offer. He just shook his head. The conclusion that we came to is that we just try too hard, and it is time to stop. Sometimes it is best to just let it go and have some fun – playing hard to get might just be a good thing. Fortunately I can always count on food – healthy, fresh and locally grown. And there is no need to play any kind of games.
Fennel is one of my favorite vegetables of all time – and it is not often that it gets center stage. Usually I use it in a recipe with other main ingredients – but this time I wanted it to shine. This recipe came to me through my weekly CSA basket – along with some delicious fresh fennel straight from the farm. This soup captured the beauty of the vegetable completely. Every bite was better than the last – and the fennel flowers on top as the garnish was the icing on top. What a wonderful healthy soup to look forward to at the end of a long day.
Ingredients
- 3 cups fennel, diced
- 2 cups leeks, sliced, white part only
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons fennel blossoms, plus additional for garnish
- Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Preparation
Cook the leek in the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until the leek wilts. Add the fennel bulb and chicken broth. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Stir in the fennel blossoms Purée the soup in two batches in a blender until very smooth. Be very careful when doing this – fill the blender no more than half full so that the hot soup does not splash out, and pulse it in quick spurts before switching it on continuously. Pour it back into the saucepan and reheat it until it simmers. Taste the soup, season with pepper, and add salt as needed. Serve hot or chilled, garnished with a small pinch of fennel flowers.
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First Look, Then Cook 