Name: Fennel and leek soup with four spice
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4

Serve this simple soup just with bread or toast or add a seafood element by placing thinly sliced sashimi-grade scallops or fish in the serving bowls before ladling in the hot soup – it should be just the right temperature to slightly cook the seafood.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

20 gm butter, diced

1 large leek (white part only), halved and thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 star anise

800 gm fennel (about 3 large bulbs), coarsely chopped, fronds reserved, stalks thinly sliced to serve

4 thyme sprigs

1 fresh bay leaf

1 litre chicken stock (4 cups)

300 gm crème fraîche

Sourdough toast, to serve

Four spice

½ tsp fennel seeds

½ tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp brown mustard seeds

½ tsp black peppercorns

Method

1.Heat olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over high heat, add leek, garlic and star anise and sauté until leek and garlic start to caramelise (3-5 minutes). Add fennel, thyme and bay leaf, and stir until fennel softens slightly (2-3 minutes). Add stock, season to taste, cover and bring to the boil, then remove lid and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until fennel is tender (10-12 minutes). Discard herbs and star anise, add crème fraîche, season to taste and blend with a hand-held blender until smooth.

2.Meanwhile, for four spice, grind spices with a mortar and pestle.

3.Scatter soup with fennel stalks and fronds, season to taste with four spice and serve with sourdough toast.

Maxwell Adey Senior Food Editor & Stylist

Maxwell has always been passionate about food. Born into a restaurateur and award-winning produce farming family, he was strongly steered into pursuing a career in advertising after completing his Bachelor of Public Communication at University of Technology, Sydney. After a very short stint, he decided to enrol in Commercial Cookery at TAFE to follow his true passion. Maxwell started out working in some of Sydney’s finest restaurants (Est., Claude’s and Moon Park) which helped further his love of all things culinary and developed his technical ability to cook. Later, he was lured into the magical world of food publishing where he freelanced for ten years for notable Australian commercial and editorial brands. He has also run his own business where he sells his marinated olives, dressings and sauces at food markets and select retailers. He excitingly joins the Gourmet Traveller team to bring his technical and creative expertise in food to the brand.

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Styling by Emma Knowles

Ingredients

Method

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