vegetable soup - ramson, wild garlic, bear's leek soup
t=teaspoon T=tablespoon
These recipes are for your personal use only and may not be added in any form to archives or other works.
Ramson (Wild Garlic) Spring Soup
A delicious spring tonic soup - good for cleansing the blood, liver and
intestines. A classic Germanic recipe typical of spring.
Click here for another version.
serves 4 generously
100
gr. ramsons (a good bunch or more depending on personal taste)
40 g. butter (+-1 well rounded tablespoon)
40
g. flour
1 shallot (or sm. onion)
250 ml. milk
1 liter light vegetable or chicken broth
200 ml. light cream or half cream and half yoghurt
salt, white pepper
50 g. low fat cream cheese or other soft cheese
1 rounded T. crème fraîche
Rinse the ramsons well under running water. Save one leaf per serving as a
garnish. Cut the rest into fine strips and set aside (alternatively, slice
all but save a small amount to garnish each bowl). Melt the butter.
Chop the onion into small dice and sauté in the butter until glassy taking care they do not take on colour. Sprinkle over the flour and cook over low heat for several minutes.
Add the milk and the broth, stir and allow to gently simmer 10 minutes.
Use a puree wand (immersion blender) and puree until smooth. Season with
salt and pepper.
Beat the cream until rather thick and use a whisk to blend into the soup.
If using yoghurt, whisk first until the soup is smooth before adding the whipped
cream. Gently and briefly heat again but do not allow to simmer before
serving immediately.
Notes: A lighter version of this replaces the cream with more milk (450 ml. milk
total or part of that replaced with yoghurt if you prefer) and uses potato as a
thickener. Just dice a not too small flourery potato and cook with the
onions. Personally, I rather prefer this method with also using a small
pot (125 ml) of yoghurt.
Using more ramsons will not only impart a stronger taste but a greener soup. You can also add the broth to the sautéed onion (and potato if using) and puree, then add the very finely cut strips of ramson (cut each leaf first lengthways before piling on the rest, rolling lengthways then slicing before proceeding. The soup will be whiter with lovely green in it.
Serve in warmed soup plates and garnish. A light white wine such as Riesling or
a Silvaner goes nicely with this.
All recipes are excerpts from "Welcome to My Kitchen" - The Epicurean Table and are copyright of the author. Recipes are not to be
added to any form of archive or other works of any kind. Contact the author for further information.
The Epicurean Table © 1999-2010 Patricia Conant