RECIPE :: Fennel and white wine soup

(4 servings)

When I was making this soup I started of with the stock thinking it was too weird to try putting fruit into a soup and before I mixed it in with the almonds I was not impressed with the flavour but after combing the almonds the stock became smooth and creamy. The rest of the soup neatly came together to create a sweet, fruity soup.

The fennel is separated into three bits. In the techniques section it shows you how to do this.

Ingredients
Stock
1 fennel root (heart and stalk only, roughly chopped),
1 apple (roughly chopped),
1 pear (roughly chopped),
1 carrot (roughly chopped),
1 stick of celery (roughly chopped),
1 onion (roughly chopped),
½ tsp of fennel seeds,
2tbsp of olive oil,
½ tsp of salt,
1 bay leaf,
750ml of water and
100g of almonds.

Soup
1tsp of fennel seeds,
1tbsp of olive oil,
1 fennel root (nice bits thinly sliced),
250ml of a medium white wine and
1tbsp of ginger juice.

Method
1) To make the stock; fry the roughly chopped vegetables and the fennel seeds in a thick bottomed saucepan with the oil for ten minutes.
2) Add the salt, bay leaf and the water to the vegetables and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer covered for 45 minutes.
3) Strain the stock and squeeze as much moisture out of the vegetables as possible.
4) Place the stock into a blender along with the almonds and whiz away for 2 minutes. Strain the stock again but this time through a muslin back to remove the almonds.
5) To make the soup; dry fry and crush the fennel seeds.
6) Fry the fennel root with the olive oil over a medium heat for 8 minutes.
7) Place the thinly sliced fennel, fennel seeds, wine, ginger juice and the stock into a blender and whiz away until smooth.
8) Bring the soup back to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for two more minutes.