Watercress and Orange Soup

I realized I haven't done a cooking post for a while, so I thought I would honor the quite warm weather we are having in Portland (in the mid 80s) this Mother's Day weekend with a soup that can be served either hot or well chilled.

Overall the recipe only takes about 20-30 minutes and serves 4 as a main dish (total recipe yield is a little more than 5 cups).

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped (I used sweet onion)
• 2 bunches of watercress that have been chopped
• 2 1/2 cups of vegetable stock or chicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 orange – you will want to grate all of the rind, and also then squeeze all the juice
• 2/3 cup of cream
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Saute the onion in olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat until it is soft and transparant.
   
2. Now add the watercress and cover the pan. Wait about 5 minutes for the watercress to soften.
   
3. Remove the pan from heat and add 2 1/2 cups of vegetable stock that have been pre-mixed with 3 tablespoons flour and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, as well as the juice and grated rind of one orange.
   
4. Simmer the pan for about 10 minutes. Then remove and and let cool enough to pour the entire mixture into a blender or food processor and puree.
   
5. Return the puree into the pan, and add the 2/3 cup of cream that has been premixed with the cornstarch. Bring the mixture to a boil on low heat. You can salt and pepper to taste.
   
6. Now you can serve hot… or place in a container and chill in the fridge.
7. When serving, you can add a swirl of cream or yogurt (about a tablespoon), and add an orange wedge, or croutons. Or, what I did… which is add a tablespoon of some crispy crumbled bacon.