A thick and creamy cockle soup.
Ingredients
- 2 kg pot cockles
- 30 g butter
- 1 medium onion (peeled and diced)
- 3 sticks of celery (trimmed and diced)
- 1 medium carrot (peeled and diced)
- 300 ml milk
- 120 ml cream
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tblsp fresh thyme
- 2 tblsp plain flour
- 3 tblsp chopped chives
Method
- Wash and scrub the cockles then place them in a large pan with a splash of water.
- Cover tightly and cook over high heat.
- As soon as the cockles open, take the pan off the heat and drain them in a colander, saving the cooking liquid in a bowl.
- When cool enough to handle, remove the cockles from their shells and set aside.
- Melt the butter in a pan and saute the diced vegetables in it for about 2 minutes.
- Sprinkle the flour lightly over the sweated vegetables and mix well to make a light roux.
- Add the cockle liquid a little at a time, stirring constantly and making sure there are no lumps.
- Add in the remaining milk and cream and bring to just under the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the cockle meat and simmer for a further 20 minutes.
