Chilled watercress and lettuce velouté with oysters

If I'm honest I'll tell you I didn't know what a "velouté " was when I was posting this.
So, I looked it up, this is how Merriam-Webster defines it:

velouté

 

noun ve·lou·té \və-ˌlü-ˈtā\

Definition of VELOUTÉ

:  a soup or sauce made of chicken, veal, or fish stock and cream and thickened with butter and flour

The recipe I'm sharing today is from "Great British Chefs", you will find the link below. 

1

Place the oysters, flat-side up, in a steamer basket over a pan of boiling water. Cover and steam for 1 minute. The oysters should have opened. Carefully reserve the oyster juices in a cup

• 8 oysters, large and fresh

2

Remove the oysters from their shells and leave to cool. Then cut the lemongrass stalks into thin skewers and pierce an oyster on each. Chill until ready to serve

• 4 lemongrass sticks

3

Gently sauté the shredded lettuces with 2 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan for about 5 minutes, until softened but not coloured

• 1/3 iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 1/2 baby gem lettuce, shredded
• olive oil

4

Cut the stalks from the watercress and parsley and blanch for 1 minute. Add the watercress leaves and parsley leaves, then blanch for another 2 minutes

• 2 bunches of watercress
• 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley

5

Drain in a colander and plunge into a big bowl of iced water. Leave for 5 minutes, then drain, pressing down on the leaves to extract the water. Keep the liquor for blending and adjusting the texture of your velouté

6

Mix the lettuces and the wilted watercress and parsley in a blender with the reserved oyster juices and the butter. Blitz until smooth

• 1 knob of butter

7

Add seasoning to taste, then pour and rub the velouté through a fine sieve into a bowl. Chill until ready to serve

• sea salt
• pepper

8

Once ready to serve, heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the skewered oysters for a few seconds on each side to reheat and lightly colour

• olive oil

9

Pour the chilled velouté into 4 soup plates and serve with two oyster skewers balanced on the side. ENJOY!

http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/watercress-veloute-recipe

Watercress and Dill Butter

A great topping for pasta, fish, chicken, vegetables, just about anything. Ingredients:

About 1/4 C watercress, 1/2 C butter, 2T dill

Chop and blend

Chill in refrigerator until firm.

Use all sorts of ways. I spread the watercress dill butter on naan.

Then added a tomato.

Then added brie. YUM. Enjoy.

Watercress Pesto is perfecto!

Watercress makes a perfect substitute (or improvement) for basil in a traditional pesto recipe.
Ingredients:

A great bunch of B&W Watercress

about 1/2 C shredded parmesan

about 1/4 C pine nuts

olive oil to blend, about 1/4 C

You can easily adjust the quantities of these ingredients to your personal taste.

Blend all ingredients until it becomes a paste-like texture.

You can use on pasta, like traditional pesto, or on vegetables, like I did.

Zucchini and mushrooms.

Cook at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly, serve.

Enjoy!

Green Goddess Tuesday

There's a famous salad dressing of the same name, I am only borrowing it to describe the incredible green color of this smoothie, and it tastes so good you'll feel like a god or goddess after drinking it.

The sweetness of the pear and orange juice, matched with the tang of watercress

 make this smoothie special.

National Artichoke Hearts Day

Happy National Artichoke Hearts Day! You know what goes really great with artichoke hearts? Watercress. Check out this recipe from http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/82462442/artichoke-and-watercress-soup/

photo: Key Ingredient

Ingredients

2	tablespoons olive oil
2	celery stalks, chopped
2	cloves garlic, chopped
1	medium onion, chopped
½	teaspoon kosher salt
¼	teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2	cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus extra, as needed
One	12-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
1	packed cup fresh watercress (about 1 ounce)
1	tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
	Lemon wedges

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery, onion, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Cook the vegetables until just tender, about 4 minutes. Add 2 cups broth and the artichoke hearts and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the artichoke hearts are tender, about 12 minutes. Puree the soup, 1 cup at a time, in a blender until very smooth, adding the watercress and chopped cilantro with the last cup. Return the puree to the same saucepan. Mix in the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Warm over low heat, thinning with the additional broth by 1/4 cupfuls if the soup is too thick. Ladle the soup into bowls. Squeeze a lemon wedge over each bowl of soup before serving.