Finally! Soup!

I've been meaning to make this for many nights.  I went out and bought the ingredients last week.  In the meantime, my first round of cress went yellow and subsequently my husband treated himself (with my blessing) to the 1/2 and 1/2 in his coffee.  I finally got around to buying more of both. Boy was I glad it worked out that way, because I got these really cool packages of cress that was still growing - with the roots intact like you sometimes see basil sold.  Excellent.

Last night I made Creamy Watercress Soup.  I know it's not on my original list, but it sounded really good, and I reserve the right to change my mind to suit my tastes.  I served it with grilled hamburgers on English muffins and a side of asparagus.  It was a Huge Hit.

The thing that attracted me to this was EatingWell's description of "Steakhouse Flavors".  I love horseradish.  I love blue cheese.  I love soup.  This seemed like a perfect fit for me.  I assumed my kids wouldn't eat it (hence the asparagus on the plate), but they have pretty surprising and sophisticated palates for two and four year olds, so I did serve it to them in little ramekins.  Freddy (2), had an early-rise,  no nap, lots of activity day.  He fell asleep on the couch as dinner was being served and slept for 11 hours.  Molly (4), had two ramekins of this soup and her whole helping of burger and asparagus.  I couldn't believe it when she said "I like this soup, Mama!" and almost fell over when she asked for, and ate, seconds.  The kid likes Brussels sprouts and broccoli, too (and Freddy loves beets and pickles).   They would both eat asparagus every day.  Lucky me!

After dinner my husband admitted he wasn't really jazzed about trying this one - though on the whole he is very happy to reap the benefits of all this new recipe cooking I'm doing.  He was pleasantly surprised, and really enjoyed the soup, too.  As for me, this recipe fulfilled all my dreams of the promised Steakhouse flavors, and I think the accompanying burger was perfect.  I'm not sure I'd serve this soup alone as a meal, but the cheese was wonderful and complimented the creaminess of the soup, and we all loved how the croutons stayed crispy.  The sourdough is key.  Great flavors!

I haven't done a lot of play-by-play photo-cooking here yet, and I really enjoyed making this.  So, I took a bunch of pictures, and would love to share them.  Please keep in mind, these are iPhone pictures, and I am not a professional. :)

One of my favorite smells, ever.  Olive oil, onion and garlic doing it's thing.

 I was a little worried about the "Extra Hot"-ness of this prepared horseradish, but it's what I had, so it's what I used.  I initially only put 1 TBS in.  I let it cook, tasted it, and added the remaining TBS.  It turned out great.

The package of growing cress.

Roots!

Super easy to prep with the roots holding it all together, too!

I was surprised this recipe called for beef stock, and almost used my own frozen chicken stock from when I made Bobby's Chicken last month.  I'm so glad I went with the recommended reduced sodium box of beef stock.  Great flavor, and it complimented the burgers.  Another testament to my belief that you should do what the recipe says the first time, see how you like it, and then adjust to your tastes. (Now please don't look back at the onion dressing I made last week where I used leeks.)

Add cress.

No matter how many times I cook greens, I'm always amazed at the reduction in volume.

Thicken.

 Blend in batches.

Add 1/2 and 1/2 and pepper.

Toasty!  Sourdough is one of my very favorite breads (up there with Caraway Rye and Soda Bread).  It was perfect in this soup.  Plus - super crunchy texture in the creamy soup!

The accouterment.  Freddy helped sprinkle before he fell asleep.

Molly's ramekin of goodness.  (This was the first helping.)

Make it and tell me what you think!!