Pear, Potato and Watercress Soup

This delicious soup will leave you delighted and satisfied on a cold winter's night- and it does not take long at all to prepare!

Ingredients:
- 1 french, organic baguette
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 3 ripened organic bartlett pears, peeled, cored and diced
- 1- 2 medium sized organic, yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon of organic, unsalted butter
- 2 organic green onions, chopped diagonally
- 4 cups of chicken broth or stock
- 1 bunch of fresh local watercress (keep a couple of sprigs aside for presentation before serving)
- 1 cup of organic whipping cream
- 1/2 cup of crumbled organic blue cheese or another soft cheese that crumbles easily and is soft

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 C. Diagonally cut baguette into 1/2 inch slices. Use about half the baguette. Safe the rest to serve with soup (to dip in!). Brush both sides with olive oil and bake, turning the slices half way through. It should take a bout 6 minutes in total to bake or become toasty (and hard).


Step 2: In a large dutch oven( see photo below) or sauce pan, heat butter. Add chopped green onions and cook until softened. Next add potatoes and pears; pour in broth. Bring to a boil. Then cover and simmer for about 20-25 minutes.

Step 3: Set aside some sprigs of watercress for serving. Now add washed watercress to the soup for about 5 minutes. Then take off heat for a few minutes. Add soup in batches, to a blender (with the lid tightly secured to avoid explosions!) and puree until smooth. Each batch can then be returned to your soup pot.

Step 4: Add the 1/2 cup of organic whipping cream and heat until hot. Reserve a little of the whipping cream for when you serve the soup.

Step 5: Take toasted baguette croutons and top with the crumbled blue cheese. Ladle and serve soup in wide bowls (see below) and drizzle remaining whipped cream on top. Float crouton in middle and add a sprig of watercress! Serve with extra frech bread as well.

Enjoy this culinary and extremely healthy winter soup!