Sorrel Soup.

Now here's a wonderful vegetable that you don't often see in markets or ever (do correct me) in a supermarket, yet it's easy to grow and practically indesctructible. My plant is twelve years old now and seems to think it's a shrub. If it bolts --which it invariably does-- just pull of the bolted bits and you're still in business. If you've never grown any sorrel, set some seeds next Spring. Use some of the smallest leaves raw in a salad and the bigger leaves in cooked dishes: it's like spinach with an addictive lemon bite to it.

This time of year, there are plenty of big leaves left on my sorrel plant. I will be making soup tonight. Beg, borrow or steal some or, if you do see a last crop, snap it up. Sorrel makes a lovely filling for an omelette, an excellent sauce for fish and a delicate soup. Proceed as follows.

Sweat about 40 g of washed and shredded sorrel and three finely chopped cloves of garlic in a large pan in some butter. Stir carefully and constantly until you have a soft green puree. Now add four finely chopped peeled potatoes, mix them into the mixture and add 1 litre of chicken stock. Alternatively, you could make this soup with plain water or milk. If you are using milk, be careful that it does  ot curdle with the sharpness of the sorrel. Raise the heat and then simmer carefully for about fifteen minutes. At this point, add about 100 ml of double cream. Stir carefully, check the seasoning -- you will need to salt fairly generously -- and serve with some croutons or just good bread and butter. The soup with be creamy with a satsisfying smack of acidity.

Photo from ndrwfgg at flickr: thank you!