A nice cold vegetable soup with the sweetness of the butter lettuce, flavored with cilantro and old sherry vinegar.

In a 10 inches pot: Melt the butter, on low heat. Add the onions, shallots, garlic and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the butter lettuce and sweat for another 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, the stock, bouquet Garni, salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce and let simmer for 40 minutes.

Process the soup, using an electric or a hand blender, until very smooth. Let it cool, then refrigerate. When cold, add the chopped cilantro, the Xeres and the cream. Finally, stir in the spinach mousse, using the top foam only, until the cream soup becomes green. Taste and season again if needed. Refrigerate.

For the spinach mousse I recommend you to follow the instructions of the crab cake recipe. You could also substitute this recipe by adding some baby scallops lightly sautéed. Your soup should be very tasty, and lightly sour.

Note: Xeres vinegar is aged sherry vinegar.