One of Delia's

 For the last year I have been cooking my way through 'Delia's Vegetarian Collection' after being inspired by the film 'Julie and Julia' (a true story about a woman called Julie cooking all the recipes in Julia Child's book).

I attempted to cook the recipes in sequence, but ended up chosing recipes at random. I've cooked nearly

all the pasta dishes, but have hardly touched the dessert and baking section. I fear the amount of calories in some of the latter recipes!

This is the watercress soup I made the other day (tasted more like leek and potato). I added some home made croutons/dippers - the ones in the soup went a bit soggy, so I'm glad I left some on the side too.

Here's the recipe:

250g chopped watercress

110g butter

400g chopped leeks

700g peeled and chopped potatoes

3 pints of veg stock

4 heaped tablespoons of creme fraiche

salt and pepper

(it serves 4 people)

Method:

Melt butter in a saucepan and add the chopped leeks, potatoes and watercress. Stir to coat in butter

Add some salt, then cover with lid and let the vegetables sweat for about 20 mins, giving a good stir halfway through.

After that, add the stock and bring to simmering point, leave to simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes.

Delia then recommends blending the soup in batches, but I just used a hand blender straight into the pan (but off the heat).

Stir in 3 tablespoons of creme fraiche and serve up with a swirl of the remainder creme fraiche. 

Result:

Delia's watercress soup