Lavender Blueberry Soup

Manissa wasn’t so keen on this soup, because she loves blueberries so much it seemed a pity to alter them so throughly. But I like the rich–almost tart–mulled flavor of this curious soup. It makes use of lavender, an interesting and underused herb, and can compliment any part of a meal. I’ve tried it as a dessert, with yogurt or a dash of sour cream; I’ve used it as a main, baking the strained, pulpy blueberries into a cornmeal crust (see “vegetable tartlets” for recipe).

Blueberry Lavender Soup

2 pints fresh blueberries (or more)
1 cup hearty red wine
3 cups water
12 ounces of local honey*
2 1/2 teaspoons dried lavender
juice and rind of three lemons (and orange juice, if you fancy)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cloves
pinch salt, to taste

Put all in a stock pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer 10 minutes. Garnish with creme fraiche, fresh blueberries, lavender florets. Serve hot (on ice cream is nice) or cold (I used olive sourdough as a dipping bread–sounds weird, but it was quite lovely!).

*On honey–Dwayne Newcombe, of the Friday market in Union Square, has a lovely, darkly flavored bamboo honey which would pair really well with this soup. For a lighter note, try his linden honey. I used apple blossom honey from Toigo Orchards (my Sunday market in Tompkins Square), and accented it with manuka honey from New Zealand, as it is very velvety and rich.

Saturday September 22nd, 2007 in Recipes, Summer | No comments »