Ribwort Cream Soup

Today is collection day!

Due to the hot spring, all wild herbs are in rapid emergency bloom this year. There is barely time to pick the young shoots and buds, and already the leaves are fully grown or the buds have blossomed. Which would be a shame in the case of ribwort, because its buds can no longer be enjoyed flowering, they become straw. The collection today went just so - quite tender buds are no longer, but still closed.

So, now they are collected, what do I do with them? Some people say that ribwort tastes like mushrooms. I can not quite understand that, maybe a little earthy but rather slightly bitter. The leaves I already know from the salad, here the aroma is even more intense.

So first 40 g ribwort buds in 3 tsp butter fry. So they become crunchy and a roast aroma comes to the plantain flavor. But for “eating like this” they are not fine enough. So I add 150 ml vegetable broth, as well as a small shot of white wine. Bring to a boil, puree and add 100 ml cream. Salt, some pepper - hm, takes some getting used to. Now it tastes very much like the bitters, not subtle enough. Also, the small flower sprouts are not really good to puree. So pass it through a fine sieve and grate half a clove of garlic into it. That’s better.

Something steaming is still missing to round out the flavor. I peel a handful of small potatoes and boil them in salted water until done. Quickly mash with a masher, add the soup and blend again with a wand. Add some nutmeg and salt, a few spring onion rings, and you have a nice cream soup with an unusual flavor. You could make it a little thinner, but it tastes fine to me.

The quantity makes 2 starter portions.

cream soup of narrowleaf plantain buds, some Plantago lanceolata leaves at the table