Watercress soup with crab toasts

This recipe comes from "Daily Mail", the article it resides in mentions how traditional Chinese medicine considers watercress an excellent liver cleanser. Find the original article below the recipe.

SERVES 4

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 medium potato, diced
• 850ml (29fl oz) good-quality chicken stock (see our book for home-made)
• 400g (14oz) watercress, rinsed
• a little unsweetened almond milk or water, if needed
• flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

TO SERVE

• ready-made fresh crab pâté and pumpkin seed crackers (we like Dr Karg)

♥ Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook gently for a few minutes, stirring, until soft. Add the potato and cook for a few minutes more, then add the stock. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for around 15 minutes, or until the potato is cooked.

♥ Meanwhile, pick the watercress leaves from the stalks and set aside. Add the stalks to the pan 5 minutes before the potatoes have finished cooking, so that they just wilt.

♥ Take the soup off the heat and add the watercress leaves, then process to a smooth consistency in a blender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a little almond milk or water, if needed, to loosen it to your desired consistency. Serve with fresh crab pâté on pumpkin seed crackers.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2932841/New-soupermodels-Watercress-soup-crab-toasts.html#ixzz3oZqhqZlG
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How to eat watercress

At watercress central (here), we think you can eat watercress any way you want to. Huffington Post, however, has some pretty great suggestions. Here's just one, but the link below takes you to the other fantastic ideas. It was hard to choose just one they all look so delicious:

Tomato, Watercress and Mozzarella Salad
Serves 4

1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 English cucumber
1 ball mozzarella, Claudio’s if possible
1 head watercress
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
vinaigrette (see below)

Halve the cherry tomatoes and place in large bowl. Remove stem and seeds from peppers and chop into small dice. Dice the cucumbers finely as well and add to bowl with the tomatoes. Cut the ball of mozzarella into large pieces and add to the bowl. Add the watercress and pine nuts to the bowl and toss lightly with the Basil-shallot vinaigrette.

Basil-Shallot Vinaigrette
Yield = ½ cup

4 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small bunch basil, finely chopped (1/4 cup)

In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, shallots, mustard, sugar and salt. Let mixture macerate for 20 minutes. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking constantly until emulsified. Add the basil, whisk, taste, add more salt and pepper if necessary. Set aside. The original recipe was provided by Alexandra's Kitchen: http://www.alexandracooks.com/2007/06/19/tomato-watercress-and-mozzarella-salad/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/09/watercress-recipes-soup-salad_n_3006513.html

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!

Ice Ice Baby

Not just any ice, Watercress Ice. This is great for smoothies, as you can have the ice made and ready any time you want it. This is all there is to it:

Place a good bunch of watercress in the mixer, I added a little water, a tablespoon,

just to make the watercress a little more liquid.

It probably didn't even need water, but this is the consistency I created with the combination mentioned.

Frozen gems of gorgeous green watercress.

I added two cubes of watercress ice to this smoothie, with strawberries, and greek yogurt. It was delicious - Enjoy!