Richard Bell's Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

Rocket Soup

potatoesonionsMonday, 30th April, 2007
WE PLANTED some rocket about two months ago which has grown successfully on the kitchen windowsill. As usually happens we had more seedlings than we needed so I put a row of them in the raised bed in the greenhouse. The windowsill plants are now looking rather straggly but the greenhouse crop is lush and, as it’s beginning to flower, I decided that I should use it.

Here’s a recipe we devised for rocket soup;

    colanderliquidising
  1. Dice two small potatoes and slice two small onions and put them in a pan with some boiling water. Not too much water, but enough to cover it; you can add more later. I added two vegetable stocks cubes, in a little boiling water. One would have been enough, there’s plenty of flavour in the rocket. And a little pepper if you like. I don't bother with salt.

  2. I then rushed down the garden and filled a colander with rocket leaves. I rinsed these and chopped them fairly coarsely and added them to the soup. The rocket leaves don’t need as much cooking as the potato and onion. Rocket leaves cook down so I went back down the garden and got another colander-full.

  3. rocket soupLiquidise and serve. It’s deep, bright green, and we liked the flavour; having cooked it a bit the rocket isn’t too powerfully strong, as you might expect.