Hey! Welcome to the first ever French February! To kick off this annual celebration, we’ll take a big hearty scoop of Cream of Fennel Soup.
Now, this stuff is amazing. A friend tried this at Le Mas Candille (a 5-star restaurant just outside of Cannes, France) and couldn’t stop talking about it. So, I tried to whip up my own version of this delicious dish. Personally, I think I nailed it. But I’ll leave that up to you. (If I ever run into that guy again with a warm bowl of cream of fennel sitting on hand, then we’ll find out. But, I don’t carry soup around with me all the time, so who knows if he’ll ever be able to my version of that soup. Oh! Hey, if you have been to Les Mas Candille and had a bowl of cream of fennel soup then let me know below!!!)
The very very first time I tried cream of fennel soup, I thought “this just screams of appetizer.” So, keep that in mind next time you are preparing a multi-course French meal and are not sure with what dish to start the meal. But on second thought, I did have a saucepan full of this as leftovers for lunch. I loved it. (It went really well with a loaf of bread I made – the bread had slices of olives. Can you say delicious!!!!)
A brief note on French February.
You may be asking yourself, “why would Tyler make a soup as the first French February dish?” I have two answers for you, both may be frightening so be cautionary as you read the next few sentences. But to be brief, I’ll put these answers in the handy bullet point formatting that I was taught in both grade school and college.
- This soup is amazing. It is easy to make, affordable, worthy of somebody like a college student who is on a budget, and it uses fennel. (I’m a big fan of fennel. I also like licorice. That may have something to do with why I like fennel. But that is something to consider another day.)
- It wasn’t. Yes. Yes. Yes. You guessed correctly. I actually was going to start with croissants, but I had to give them an extra day to rise. So I whipped up this quick dish instead. (Speaking of whipping, make sure you follow my note on how to blend the cream of fennel soup.)
With that out of the way, we can move on to my recipe. Keep in mind, that I recommend that you use this as an appetizer.
Cream of Fennel Soup
For the next few seconds, follow my directions. Turn around. (Unless you are reading this on your phone, are facing a wall, or are near a precipice in which case, beware!) Run to the kitchen! Quick! Search the pantry, cupboards, and fridge for these ingredients!
- 2 bulbs (500 grams) of fennel (sliced)
- 1 onion (sliced)
- ¼ liter of broth (vegetable, bone, or meat)
- 1 liter of whole milk
- Salt
(Wow, I do like using those bullet points. They do make everything look really nice. I should start using them more often.)
Now, with the grace of an elk, go grab a pot and place it on your stove. Turn the heat to a medium-low, and add a little olive oil to the pot. When the oil heats up, add the onions and fennel and cook until they become transparent.
Once the vegetables are translucent, pour in the broth. Let the broth heat to a simmer, and then let it simmer for until half of it evaporates (this will probably take thirty minutes). Then add the milk and let it simmer for thirty minutes. Stir occasionally.
Pay attention to this part. Remove the soup from the stove and blend it. BUT blend it with a hand blender. If you use a stand blender then you’ll add too much air to the soup. Though tasty, it is better when you use an immersion (also known as a hand) blender. Ok, blend until it is a homogeneous mixture (meaning that the entire soup has the same consistency).
With that, you are ready to eat! Add some salt to taste, and serve this cream of fennel soup hot!
Let me know what you think! Oh, and in addition to ending here I do recommend you try it with some bread! (Or as an appetizer!)
