Recipe by Illanique van Aswegen
Creamy fennel, biltong and goat’s cheese soup
Ingredients
Croutons
- 60g mini baguette, sliced (about 16 slices)
- 20ml (4 tsp) olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Soup
- 5g butter
- 180g (about 4) small leeks, finely sliced
- 15ml (1 tbsp) garlic, peeled and crushed
- 360g fennel, chopped
- 370g (about 2) medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1L (4 cups) chicken stock
- 15ml (1 tbsp) Dijon mustard
- 250ml (1 cup) fresh cream
- 2 x 100g goat’s cheese logs
- 35g powdered biltong
- handful finely sliced biltong, to serve
- fresh microherbs, to garnish
Instructions
For the croutons, preheat the oven to 180°C. Toss the sliced bread and oil together and season to taste. Place on a baking tray and bake until crisp and golden, 4 – 5 minutes.
For the soup, heat a large pot over low heat. Add the butter, leeks, garlic and fennel, and gently sauté for 10 minutes. It shouldn’t brown too much.
Add the potatoes and stock, cover and simmer until tender, 45 – 50 minutes. Add the mustard, cream and one 100g goat’s cheese log. Use a blender to purée until smooth. Stir in the powdered biltong and season to taste.
Serve the soup topped with a little finely sliced biltong. Crumble over the remaining goat’s cheese and garnish with the croutons and fresh microherbs.