Simply watercress, even more simply pears

When my husband and I first got together we each had a stash of cookery books, which eventually became a single stash. A book he often used – and in fact I don’t know where it is now, was called something like ‘Four Ingredient Meals’ – and that is what the recipes were, all made with just four ingredients. I’m sure a lot of us cook like that anyway – ‘oh what do I have, spring onions,prawns and eggs… so omelette with spring onions, prawns and eggs‘… So when we see actual recipes which are simple and yet interesting, it’s a gift! I notice that Jamie Oliver’s most recent book is ‘5 Ingredients – Quick & Easy Food’ so he’s thinking along the same lines!

In my little 1936 National Mark Calendar of Cooking, there is a September recipe for watercress soup – I love watercress, it’s full of iron, so I will probably love the soup!

Watercress Soup

• floury potatoes
• watercress
• cream
• 1 egg yolk
• lemon juice

(OK, so it’s five ingredients!)

1. boil the potatoes
2. when nearly done add the watercress leaves
3. when the potatoes are cooked, rub them and the watercress through a sieve (these days you can just blitz or blend them)
4. return o the pan with a little extra water if needed, but do not boil
5. blend the cream and egg and add to the soup off the heat and stir very well
6. season with lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste

Maybe if this is just a light lunch, after the soup and crusty bread and butter, how about an even simpler three ingredient dessert:

Pears with butter

• pears, peeled, cored, sliced
• butter
• sugar

1. layer the pear slices in a buttered dish with more butter and sugar between the layers
2. top with dots of butter and sugar, brown in the oven

Delicious served with cream!

You may wonder why i have sheep as my featured image, well, very near where these sheep are there is a little stream which runs into the sea and growing in it is watercress!