Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Stasya's Vegan Mofo Recipe: Watercress Soup

Vegan Mofo has been so much fun!  I've been cruising everyone's vegan blogs and I have been so impressed and inspired by all of the lovely recipes and compassion out there.  Stasya from The Stitch and Fold has been generous enough to let us borrow one of her delicious Watercress Soup with us.  

As watercress can be difficult to find in many parts of the US (Stasya is from England), Stasya has also used white button mushrooms instead and offered them as a substitute.  
Watercress soup 
a supermarket packet of watercress – chop it all up and reserve some for garnishing
1 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped
2 boiling potatoes, chopped
1 litre of vegetable stock
a little olive oil
1/2 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
Freshly-cracked black pepper
Heat up the olive oil in a pot. Fry the onion till it starts to soften. Add the potato, vegetable stock and watercress. Add the thyme and bay leaf.  Put on a medium simmer for about 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are done (prick with a fork – if it goes through smoothly, it is done).  Remove the potato, onion and watercress from the pot using a slotted spoon and put into a blender. Add a few ladlefuls of the vegetable stock. Remove the bay leaf from the pan.
Blend until smooth.  Pour the resulting puree back into the soup, using a spatula if necessary.
Garnish with the remaining watercress, add freshly-cracked black pepper to taste and serve hot.  Serves 2-3 and keeps well in refrigerator for about 3 days.  
For those of you who aren't familiar with Stasya or her shop The Stitch and Fold, she makes lovely amigurumi and origami.  Here is one of her latest designs- just in time for the holiday season:)  She will be adding more items- so keep your eyes peeled.  
Stasya and her brother borrowed a book on origami when they were children and has continued to teach herself.  At school she loved creating little animals, boxes and flowers from scrap bits of paper- a passion that still remains (she is 22, for the record). As a result of practice from her school days, she has become quite good at making tiny origami models.  



Stasya hasn't figured out if it is a coincidence or not, but her other passion is a different Japanese art- creating amigurumi (crochetted toys). She loves the cuteness of amigurumi and learned crochet from her mum so she could make her own cute things :-)
"I love nature, I love small things and I love cuteness so these qualities/concepts tend to be reflected in my shop items." -Stasya
This Amigurumi European Robin Bird is adorable!


1 comment: