American land cress is one of my favourite winter salad vegetables. It looks and tastes very similar to watercress and it’s a lot less fussy: no need for flowing chalk streams, or even that much more water than you would normally give a salad green. Cut it back to the base and it just springs back again for more.

I mostly eat my land cress raw, picked very young as a lightly peppery salad ingredient. But you can also cook the older leaves, mellowing their bitterness to a rich, spinachey savoury flavour that’s simply delicious.✓

Alan’s question a week or so back asking what you can do with land cress when it’s grown a little over-mature prompted this recipe for the ultimate warming, comforting winter soup. It’s a mashup of a Delia recipe for watercress and potato soup, plus a Riverford recipe which specifically requires the stronger-flavoured land cress, with a tweak or two of my own. There’s a printable version at the end for you too. Enjoy!

Head on over to Greenery for the full recipe!