Fennel Soup
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1 fennel bulb
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 cups (1L) veggie broth
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 cups chopped potatoes (any kind but red)
1/2 cup (125mL) soy milk
Remove the stalks of the fennel and slice off the hard bottom, discard stalks and bottom. Slice across the bulb to make thin semi-circles. Sweat the onion and fennel in a good dollop of oil over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic and continue sweating for another few minutes.
Add broth, thyme, some salt and pepper then bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add potatoes and simmer for 20 minutes until potatoes are soft.
Blend soup until smooth with a blender or hand blender. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then stir in soymilk for added creaminess.
Variations:1) For a creamier, thicker soup, sprinkle fennel, onion and garlic with 2 tablespoon flour near the end of sweating. Stir well to coat before adding broth.2) For a greener soup, add half a cup of frozen peas with potatoes.3) For a brighter fennel taste, add 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds with the thyme.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Made this with double the potatoes, and used coconut milk instead of soy. Very good!
Bummer, this was too pungent, but it was edible.
This was really really nice! We'd never had fennel before, but it came in our veggie box delivery, and this was one of the few recipes that sounded palatable to me, as I hate the taste of anise, and most fennel recipes call for it raw mixed with other things I hate. But this was great,the fennel is really mellowed by cooking, and it's just a nice background flavor in the soup. Will definitely be my go to recipe for fennel!