INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Gently fry onion and garlic in a small amount of butter until transparent.
Season lightly with salt and pepper, and add water and potato and boil
until soft.
Pick over watercress and chop 4 or five sprigs and set them aside. Put
onion and potato mixture in blender and puree. Add most of watercress,
blend, re-season to taste and return to heat.
Bring mixture to boil and simmer for 2 or three minutes. Stir gently to
prevent soup from sticking to bottom. Remove from heat.
This is the decision point.  Either set aside to cool, then chill, or carry
on to serve the soup hot.
Stir in cream and chopped watercress.  Heap a teaspoon of caviar on each of
the water biscuits and float one on each bowl of soup immediately prior to
serving.
  NOTES:
*  Watercress soup, hot or cold -- This thick, creamy soup is equally good
whether served hot or cold.  I have had watercress soup in restaurants, and
my mother sometimes makes it, too, but this recipe is my own interpretation
of the idea. Yield: Serves 4.
*  Use the minimum amount of butter, oil, or margarine that will turn the
onion transparent.  Those who are particularly diet-conscious could
dispense with this step, and with the cream. Don't overdo the garlic, 1/2 a
small clove is ample since it is a background flavour, not one that you
should be aware of.
*  A caution regarding seasoning.  Potatoes absorb a lot of salt so you may
find it under-salted.  The caviar on the other hand, is very salty. This,
for me, is a delightful and important contrast. Guests can always add extra
salt if they choose.
*  Water biscuits are made by Carr's, amongst others, and can be found in
most supermarkets, possibly in the gourmet food section. They are variously
known as water biscuits, water crackers and table water crackers. To my
mind the best for eating with cheese are the high-bake ones, but the
regular type are better for this recipe. If you can't find them, then any
round dry bland low-salt cracker will do.
*  A 2 oz jar of lumpfish caviar costs a little under $3.00, but it does
keep in the fridge so you can get two batches of four servings from one
jar.  I suppose if budget is a prime consideration one could dispense with
the caviar, too, but that would be like serving a martini without the
olives. (Treasonable.)
: Difficulty:  easy to moderate.
: Time:  20 minutes of preparation, 1/2 hour of simmering.
: Precision:  Approximate measurement OK.
: Marcus G Hand.
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