Creamy Fennel Soup

Posted on by

This delicious soup is a healthy, low calorie option for a quick lunch as it is simple to prepare and only needs a short cooking time. The fennel gives this soup a delicious anise flavour, while the potatoes and celeriac provide a luxurious creamy texture, without the need to add any cream.

Ingredients

  • 1 fennel bulb
  • 1 medium sized onion
  • 1 celery stick
  • 1 large potato (or equivalent, I used 3 small potatoes on this occasion)
  • a piece of celeriac (I used 150 grams but feel free to use more)
  • 1 tspn of fennel seeds
  • 1 and1/2 litres of chicken (or vegetable stock)
  • olive oil
  • salt

Method

  1. Peel and chop the onion, celery, celeriac and potatoes.
  2. Remove the butt and top of the fennel and chop the main bulb into even sized, smallish pieces.
  3. Heat around 2 tablespoons of oil in a soup pan and add the chopped onion, celery, celeriac and fennel.
  4. Fry for several minutes and when vegetables start to yellow and soften add fennel seeds.
  5. Continue frying for another minute or so, stirring to ensure the seeds and vegetables cook evenly and do not burn.
  6. Add 1 and1/2 litres of either vegetable or chicken stock. (If you are wanting a more intense flavoured soup, only add 1 litre of stock.)
  7. Add the potatoes.
  8. Cook for about half an hour or until all the vegetables are soft.
  9. Liquidise the soup using a blender and season with a little salt if you wish.
  10. Enjoy!

Optional Variation in Ingredients

If you are out of fresh celery and/or celeriac but have some white cabbage instead, it makes an equally delicious healthy soup. When I made this soup on another occasion, I added a around 300 grams of roughly chopped cabbage, adding it at the same time as the rest of the vegetables, as described in Method above. The idea came to me because my mother would often add sliced white cabbage to her Spanish style, one pot stews. The sliced cabbage would melt and disappear into the spicy sauce, adding lots of additional yumminess and flavour.

  • Chopping the vegetables into small pieces and making them similar in size speeds up the cooking time.
  • If you have any leftover soup for the following day, the fennel flavour will become more intense.

Serving Tip: Delicious with freshly made flatbreads. Click on the link for instructions for these easy to make breads.

Cookery Tips:

Benefits of Eating Fennel

Fennel is a popular plant in the Mediterranean where it has long been recognised for its medicinal properties, particularly with regard to digestive ailments. It is high in Vitamin C, minerals and phytoestrogens, so is also considered beneficial for menopause and other female conditions.

2 thoughts on “Creamy Fennel Soup”

  1. Absolutely delicious! Lovely fennel flavours, feels so healthy. I blended in a tiny bit of cream cheese to make it extra creamy 😀

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply