VeganMoFo 31: Fennel Soup

I just posted this in Dutch on the Plantaardig Maandag blog, so I figured I’d post the English version of the recipe on here, too. It’s my mother’s recipe for fennel soup and it’s one of my favourite dishes!

Ingredients:
1 (large) fennel bulb
1 litre vegetable stock
2-3 tablespoons vegan margarine or oil
3-4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried basil
soy cream (optional)
salt and pepper (to taste)

1. Start by cleaning the fennel: remove the bottom part and the tops of the stalks, then separate the leaves and rinse them well. Reserve the fronds for garnish, if you like. Chop the fennel into pieces — about 1 cm (1/2 inch) is good, but you’ll be blending the soup later on so there’s no need to be precise.

2. Boil the fennel pieces in the vegetable stock for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, make a roux by melting the margarine in a separate pan and stirring in the flour. When the fennel pieces are done cooking, add in the roux, stir in the dry basil, and purée the soup with an immersion blender.

3. Add soy creamer (if you have it), salt, and pepper to taste, and garnish with the fennel fronds.