Sorrel Avocado Soup

One of my goals when going to the farmer’s market is to try new foods.  I always try to get something that I’ve never eaten before, never cooked with before, or I have limited experience with.  It broadens my palate and stretches my creativity in the kitchen.  Recently, my new ingredient was sorrel.

Sorrel is a really neat green leafy vegetable.  It looks quite similar to spinach, with its rich green color and broad smooth leaves.  The taste is tart and a bit lemony.  When cooked, sorrel falls about completely, which is why it is commonly used as a sauce or in soups.  It does not look very attractive cooked as it turns into a muddy green color – but at least the taste is good!  It can also be eaten raw, but because the flavor becomes more tart with age, younger leaves are best eaten raw. The flavor of the older leaves can add flavor to soups and sauces.

For my recipe, I also used ramps, nettles and fiddleheads since I’m still enamored with these wild vegetables.  The avocado lends a rich creamy texture to the soup without any dairy.  I used beef stock because that was all I had, but chicken stock would probably be preferable to give it a lighter taste.  To make this a truly vegan soup, the ghee could be replaced with coconut oil or even olive oil if you cooked at a lower temperature and the stock could be replaced with vegetable stock.

This post is part of Try it Tuesday.

Ingredients

• Large handful of fiddleheads
• 2 tablespoons ghee
• 2 ramps (leaves and bulb)
• 1/2 bunch nettles
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 1/2 cups beef stock
• 1/2 bunch sorrel
• 1 avocado, chopped
• Mint, for garnish

Boil the fiddleheads for 3 minutes, then rinse.  Melt the ghee in a pot over medium high heat and add the boiled fiddleheads and ramps.  Stir frequently.  After about 3 minutes, reduce the heat to low and add the nettles, freshly washed with the water still clinging to the leaves.  When they have steamed a few minutes and have wilted and deepend in color, add the wine and stock.  Let it simmer for about 10 minutes, then add the sorrel and cook until the sorrel has mostly disintergrated.  Chop up the avocado and add it to the soup.  Take care not to add the avocado too early as prolonged cooking can make it bitter.  Turn off the heat and let it cool slightly.  Use an immersion blender/stick blender to puree, then bring the heat back up until it is the right temperature to serve.  Garnish with a few mint leaves.