Vegetable and Chervil Soup (Vegetarian)

Raymond Blanc

Raymond Blanc

15th February 2022
Raymond Blanc

Vegetable and Chervil Soup (Vegetarian)

15 min

This dish is Raymond's One Planet Plate.

One Planet Plate is a campaign run by the Sustainable Restaurant Association and presented by HSBC to help chefs showcase their most sustainable dishes so diners can find, order and enjoy them. Chefs can submit their dish here: www.oneplanetplate.org/submit

A small tribute to Maman Blanc. And I should say to Papa Blanc, too, as most of the vegetables would come from our garden, which was his great labour of love.


The vegetables and herbs can be adapted, according to the season. Chervil is one of my favourite herbs and is very popular in France, but less so in Britain.

Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients

  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 medium-sized potato
  • 1⁄4 turnip
  • 1⁄2 leek
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1⁄2 celery stick
  • 1 courgette
  • 1 ripe tomato
  • a large handful of chervil
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • plus another to finish (optional)
  • 8 pinches of sea salt
  • 2 pinches of freshly ground white pepper
  • 1.2 litres boiling water
  • 1 tablespoon crème fraîche, to finish

Method

To prepare Finely dice the onion and the peeled garlic. Peel and dice the potato and turnip. Coarsely chop the leek. Peel and chop the carrot into slices. Chop the celery and courgette. Coarsely chop the tomato and the chervil.
In a large saucepan and over medium heat, soften the onion, garlic and potato in the butter for 3 minutes – this will extract maximum flavour but stir to prevent browning. Season with salt and white pepper.
Add the turnip, leek, carrot, celery, courgette and tomato. Stir and add the boiling water. Bring to the boil, increase the heat, and cook on a fast boil for 5–7 minutes, until the vegetables are just tender. Stir in the chervil.
To finish the soup, stir in the crème fraîche or butter (or both, if you wish). Taste and correct the seasoning if necessary, then serve. This soup can be puréed in a blender if you prefer a smooth texture.

In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall and restrict access – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 12 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 500,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.