Creamy Fennel Soup With Herb Salad Recipes

CREAM OF FENNEL SOUP

Steps:

• Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and cook onion until soft and translucent. Whisk in flour and stir until a paste forms, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk water and vegetable bouillon into the saucepan. Add fennel and bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until fennel is soft, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Puree soup with an immersion blender. Stir in cream. If soup is too thick, add more water as needed. Season with salt and pepper.
• Chop fennel fronds. Divide soup between 4 bowls and sprinkle with fennel fronds.

FENNEL SOUP

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the quartered fennel bulbs; cook and stir until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Pour in the broth, and simmer until fennel is tender, about 15 more minutes. Ladle into soup bowls, and season with salt and pepper.

CREAMY FENNEL AND GREENS SOUP

Steps:

• Heat oil and butter in a 6-quart heavy pot over medium heat until foam subsides. Add fennel, onion, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes.
• Add leafy greens (but not spinach) and water to pot and simmer, covered, until greens are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in spinach and cook, uncovered, just until wilted, about 1 minute.
• Purée soup in batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids) until smooth, then return to pot. Stir in cream and lemon juice and reheat over low heat. Season with salt.
• Cooks' note:
• Soup can be made 2 days ahead and chilled (covered once cool). Reheat or serve cold.

CREAMY CHICKEN SOUP WITH FENNEL AND MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Heat oil and butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sear until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Reduce heat to medium. Pour vermouth into the pan and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
• Add fennel; cook and stir for 3 minutes. Add parsley, lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, stirring frequently, until chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, 5 to 10 more minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Remove chicken to a plate to cool.
• Add broth, mushrooms, buttermilk, heavy cream, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to the Dutch oven. Bring to a simmer. Keep hot, but do not boil.
• When chicken is cooled, tear into pieces and return to the pot. Cook until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

CREAM OF FENNEL SOUP

Steps:

• Cut the feathery tops off the fennel bulbs. Finely mince two tablespoons of the green tops and set aside. Discard the woody stems. Chop the fennel bulbs medium fine.
• Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Add the onion and chopped fennel bulb, cover and cook over low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer 10 minutes longer.
• Puree the soup in a blender or a food processor. Return it to the saucepan and add the cream. Simmer for five minutes, then stir in the Pernod or Ricard and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Bring to a simmer. Serve the soup topped with a dusting of chopped fennel tops. If desired, float a teaspoon of caviar on top of each serving.

CREAMY FENNEL AND LEEK SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a large, deep (preferably non-stick) sauté pan, over a medium heat, add the sliced fennel (NOT the strips of fennel), sliced leek and finely chopped garlic, and sauté, while stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until the fennel, leeks and garlic are beginning to soften.
• Remove from the heat, and set aside.
• In a large pot, heat the stock, add the rosemary sprigs, thyme and nutmeg and bring to the boil.
• Simmer over a low heat for about 15 minutes.
• Remove the rosemary sprigs.
• Add the fennel, leek and garlic mixture to the pot, and stir to combine all the ingredients.
• Set the pan in which the fennel, leek and garlic were sautéed aside, for re-use later.
• Allow the soup to cool slightly (10 minutes cooling time should be ample), then blend it in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth.
• As each batch is blended, pour the blended soup into another pot or pan, perhaps the deep pan used earlier to sauté the fennel, leeks and garlic.
• Once all of the soup has been blended, stir it to ensure that it is of an even consistency (inevitably some batches were probably thinner than others).
• Stir the sour cream and the 1/4 cup of parmesan into the soup.
• Reheat the soup over a medium heat until it is hot, but do not allow it to come to the boil.
• Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Turn off the heat and leave the soup covered so that it stays warm.
• In a small non-stick pan, heat the oil, and sauté the extra leek for 2-3 minutes, or until softened but not browned.
• Ladle the soup into warm soup bowls and top with the sautéed leek.
• Garnish with the extra parmesan and sour cream, and serve immediately with warm crusty rolls.
• Chef's Note: Since posting this recipe, and since last making this soup, I have found and posted a fabulous recipe for vegetable, quite unlike others I have used in the past: Vegetable Stock Recipe #135453.