Is anyone else feeling acutely aware of the value of our food right now, as we continue with ‘lockdown living’?
As we struggle to book slots for food deliveries with many items not currently available, and going shopping means queueing for hours (and is only an option for those who aren’t self-isolating), it somehow feels like there’s a more urgent need to connect with and appreciate each item of food and each part of each item of food that we are lucky enough to have access to right now, along with the people who sow, grow, harvest, package, supply, sell and deliver.
With this vulnerability we are living with comes opportunity, especially with the time that some of us are lucky enough to have on our hands right now. What changes can we start making - however small - with the way we eat whilst we have more time at home to cook, that might last beyond the lockdown?
Whether using up leftovers (even if it means eating the same thing for three or four nights in a row, albeit in a slightly different guise), considering parts of a plant that we can cook rather than throw away, considering how we can support our local growers and farmers at this time?
Our lovely neighbours dropped a box of watercress on our doorstep that they had foraged from the woods. I made it into soup, then tonight the soup became a sauce with a Buddha Bowl supper that included chopped-up & baked Colwith Farm potatoes, leftover quinoa and seasonal veg that I re-fried & topped with roasted crunchy leek leaves from the veg patch - these have become a new favourite of the kids’!
Note - I hadn’t cooked with wild watercress before. Tasting it raw it was pretty peppery so at first I didn’t add too much to the soup, knowing that the children wouldn’t eat it if it was too hot. However the watercress really wilt down and the flavour mellows a lot with cooking, so don’t hold back too much with the amount you use, if you have plenty.
I’ve popped the recipe below but feel free to add or replace items depending upon the vegetables that you have available that need to be used up.
Wild Watercress Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients
Olive oil
2 onions, chopped
4 leeks, washed, the stalks chopped and the leaves chopped into approx 5cm lengths and set aside
6 potatoes, washed and chopped
2 handfuls wild garlic, washed and chopped
1.5 litres veg stock
6 large handfuls watercress, washed and chopped leaving a few pieces whole to decorate with.
Dried herbs such as thyme (or use fresh herbs)
Salt & pepper
1 chilli pepper (optional)
Method
If you have access to the countryside for foraging in early spring, begin with a walk with the intention of picking watercress and wild garlic (and any other goodies you may find!) head out on a walk to bring back your foraged finds then wash them. Wild Food UK has a great online foraging guide.
In a large pan gently cook the onions and chopped leeks for approx 10 mins until softened.
Add the potatoes and cook for a further 10 mins.
Add the wild garlic, herbs, salt and pepper along with the vegetable stock. Simmer for 15 mins.
Add the watercress and cook for a further five minutes.
If you like a smoother soup, whizz with a hand-held blender. Check seasoning again.
Serve in warm bowls with a sprig of watercress, drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of ground pepper on top. We added some chilli to ours but left it off the kids’ bowls.
