Many of my best – and easiest – soups in springtime follow a pretty similar formula.  Take some alliums (the onion/garlic family).  Sauté with a lot of butter.  Add a simple broth or water.  Add some very fresh, often green spring vegetable for barely any time at all.  Possibly add some fresh herbs.  Blend with a whole lot of cream or crème fraîche.  Serve.

I was torn whether to make such a soup with the watercress or the asparagus I had in my fridge, but the asparagus seems to be sneaking its way into frittatas and other meals, and I hadn’t made watercress soup in a long time.  I used a mushroom broth, a few crumbles of dried cèpes from last season, and topped it with the small handful of morels I bought at the farmers’ market last weekend.  Actually, the morels and wild watercress were from the same forager.

Watercress-mushroom-cream springtime soup

1 plastic bag watercress (maybe 1/4 pound?  About two store-sized bunches.

1 small-medium onion

2 leeks

butter

2 cups mushroom broth

2 cups water

3 slices dried cèpes (porcinis) (optional)

salt to taste

1 cup cream

a dash of white wine (optional)

6-10 morels or other seasonal mushroom

Chop onion and leeks, and sauté in a lot of butter until they’re fully cooked.  Crumble in the cèpe slices while the onions are cooking.  When the onions are clear and a little browned in parts, add a little salt, and pour in a dollop of cream.  Let the onions absorb the cream fully.  Add a dollop of white wine, and let it sit for a moment.  Add the mushroom broth, cover, and let it come to a simmer.  Uncover, toss in the watercress, and cover again.  Let the watercress just wilt.  Turn the heat off, and put the soup in the blender.  Blend.  Pour it back in the pot and add the rest of the cream.  Taste and adjust for salt as needed.

In a small pan, sauté the morels in butter, maybe with another dash of white wine.  Pour any liquid from the pan into the soup, and reserve the morels.  When filling the bowls, place a few morels gently at the top of each one.  You can also float a leaf of watercress on top of each bowl.

Serve hot or cold.

Note: traditionally, this soup is thickened with potato, which can give a nice, richer consistency to such a soup.  It’s delicious and light without, though, as well as lower in starch and and a lot faster to make.