The First Mess Cookbook
There’s plenty more vegan soup and stew recipes in my cookbook! And so much more seasonal plant-based inspiration.
Every season is vegan soup recipes season in my eyes. The colour of this fennel walnut soup with turmeric wins me over every time. I love adding a handful of toasted nuts to a blended soup because it “creams” the texture up a bit. This also makes the soup super satiating!
For more soup inspiration, I recommend checking out my creamy white bean soup with kale, carrot and red lentil soup, and this simple chickpea soup.
I love fennel with leeks and apples in a salad situation, all sprinkled with toasted and chopped walnuts. A warm version of that felt just right to me. The added sprinkle of turmeric for that slightly bitter and warm edge (and stunning colour) works really nicely.
Cooking with Leeks & Fennel:
- I wash leeks by splitting them down the middle and running my fingers and water through all the layers. If there is grit in your leeks, that’s where it’s hiding!
- To chop fennel for soup, I use the bulb portion and start by cutting it in half down the middle. From there, I lay the flat side down, and cut it into slices. You don’t have to be overly precise here because everything is getting blended. Save the fennel fronds for garnish.
- The part of the leek that I recommend using for soup is the white and very light green part. These parts are super flavourful and tender.
- To use up the dark green parts of the leeks, I recommend chopping them up and saving them for vegetable stock.
Before starting the soup, I pre-toast the walnuts in the pot. Then I add them to the soup along with the veg, stock etc and purée them into the finished product. The whole process takes about 30 minutes. Strong toasty walnut flavour comes through with all of the leeks, fennel and lightly sweet apple and makes the whole thing a touch creamier.
I like to serve this soup with a fine drizzle of maple syrup, fennel fronds, and extra toasted walnuts. To store leftovers, transfer to a sealed container and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze this soup!
Fennel Leek Soup with Walnuts & Turmeric
Ingredients
Soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 leeks, white and light green parts chopped (discard green tops or use them for stock)
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped
- 1 medium fennel bulb, cored and chopped
- 1 medium apple, peeled, cored and chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ cup walnut halves, toasted
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 cups vegetable stock
To Serve
- maple syrup
- freshly ground black pepper
- chopped fennel fronds
- more toasted walnuts chopped
Equipment
Notes
- This is a pretty simple soup! Of course, I always think homemade vegetable stock is ideal, but especially with a soup with limited ingredients like this one.
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium. Add the chopped leeks and thyme. Stir and sauté the leeks until they are a bit soft, about 4 minutes. Add the chopped fennel and apples. Stir everything up a bit. Add the turmeric and stir to coat all of the vegetables evenly. Sauté the vegetables until the fennel is starting to soften, another 4 minutes. Add the walnuts and stir them in. Season the whole thing with salt and pepper. Add the vegetable stock and stir.
- Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Simmer until all of the vegetables/apples are very soft, about 12-15 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat. Carefully blend the mixture in batches in an upright blender until totally smooth. Check the soup for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
- Pour the puréed soup back into the pot. Bring the puréed fennel walnut soup to a boil and then serve hot with little drizzles of maple syrup, fresh black pepper, fennel fronds, and more toasted walnuts if you like.
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I never would have thought these ingredients would render such a lovely and tasty soup! Hats off to you!
Could you do this with pecans?
Hi Bennett,
I think pecans would work well here! Roughly the same density as walnuts, just a slightly different flavour that would still be complimentary I think.
-L
Hands down my favourite soup.
Such an interesting ingredient combination for a beautiful warm and full flavoured soup.
I grow fennel in my garden solely to make this! Thank you for sharing so generously.