What a blustery week! I’ve been almost whisked away by the wind a few times today, and coming home to a steaming bowl of roasted fennel soup and some lovely fresh bread was such a treat.
I love experimenting with soup recipes, and one of the best bits is plunging in the hand blender and finding out what colour the soup will end up. You never quite know until it is a silky smooth purée, and in this case the gorgeous pale green colour was a winner – I love it, (in fact I might take a bowl of it to a DIY store for paint colour matching, wouldn’t it be a stunning colour for a feature wall!).
If you’re a regular reader you will know that I love roasting soup ingredients rather than just boiling them – (like my roasted tomato and pepper soup, or roasted courgette soup). There is an intensity to the flavours you get in the oven that just isn’t possible in a saucepan, and it really isn’t much more effort overall.
This is a delicate soup, and it needs to be to make the most of the sweet roasted fennel and garlic. Green peas, creamy coconut milk and a little lemon juice are all that’s needed to set off the flavours, without overpowering the fennel.
I had some pretty pea shoots in the fridge so used them to decorate the bowl with a swirl of coconut milk, and for lunch the next day I piled on some croutons made from stale ciabatta and they were fabulous too.
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You might like to take a look at my Vegan Soups Index for lots more delicious and speedy vegan meals!
Do send me pictures of your very own fennel soup on:
tagging me @thevegspace or using the hashtag #thevegspace to show me how you got on!
Vegan in 15 by Kate Ford
There are plenty of similarly quick and easy recipes in my new book, ‘Vegan in 15‘*. Hop over to Amazon for a look. Thanks for your support!
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Fennel Soup: Equipment and Shopping List
You will need:
- Baking tray or roasting tin
- Large saucepan
- Hand blender, food processor or blender
Shopping List:
-
- fennel bulbs
- onion
- garlic cloves
- lemon
- fresh parsley
- baby spinach
- frozen peas
- vegetable stock (check it is vegan)
coconut milk
A beautifully creamy fennel soup recipe, with peas and lemon and blended with coconut milk. A stunning colour and totally delicious!
- 2 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
- 2 fennel bulbs
- 1 small onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 750 ml vegetable stock (check it is vegan)
- 200 g frozen peas
- 100 ml coconut milk
- 1/2 lemon
- handful baby spinach
- handful fresh parsley
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Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
-
Trim the stem and tips from the fennel and cut it into wedges. Peel and slice the onion. Place both in a roasting tin or baking tray with the oil and garlic cloves (leave them in their skins, do not peel), and season with salt and black pepper.
-
Roast for 25-30 minutes until the fennel is soft and turning brown, (see photos above).
-
When cool enough to handle, squeeze the flesh of the two garlic cloves out into the roasting tin and discard the skins.
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Bring the vegetable stock to the boil in a large saucepan. Add the roasted fennel, onion and garlic, then the frozen peas and simmer for 5 minutes.
-
Remove from the heat and use a hand blender, food processor or blender to blitz to a smooth purée, (keep going for a minute or two, this needs to be really smooth), then add the coconut milk, spinach and parsley and blitz again. Taste and add more salt or pepper if required.
For more vegan recipes using fennel, you might like to take a look at some blogging friends:
- Jane’s Fennel and Wild Garlic Salad with Mustard Dressing from The HedgeCombers
- Chris’ Orange, Fennel and Avocado Salad from Thinly Spread
Omg that colour!!! Ok, I’m off shopping today and am loading up on the ingredients, thank you!
I’m in love with the colour of your soup Kate. It sounds delicious too, but it’s the colour that draws me in. I strongly suspect I’ve never had fennel in a soup before, so I’m finding the recipe rather intriguing too.
Choclette recently posted…Green Smoothie Bowl with Pear, Avocado & Almonds
Fennel is one of my favourite vegetables and I love the look of your delicious soup. Bookmarking this to make.
I am loving the sound of this soup! Our local organic veg box delivery starts up again this week after the winter, so as soon as fennel appears I am all over this recipe!! YUM!
Oh how gorgeous and Springy does this soup look?! I love fennel, I’ll definitely be making this one!
Really, It gives nice smell and also delicious.
That is one flavorful soup with stunning color. Would love to try it!