Broccoli and Stilton Soup

It’s been absolutely flippin’ freezing here today! Our car is actually black but, parked on the drive this morning, it was completely white – it was quite an impressive frost. Not the best day for putting up the outside Christmas lights, but at least it was dry as well as beautifully sunny.

As soon as the weather gets cold my thoughts turn to soup; there’s nothing so quite so warming and comforting as a bowl of hot soup and a chunk of fresh bread.

This is one that Mr Simply Veg has wanted me to make for some time (he likes blue cheese and I don’t; although I love most cheeses there is just something about the blue variety that gives me the willies!) so I finally gave in. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat and enjoy a piece of Stilton at the end of a meal but in this it was lovely. The cheese flavour wasn’t overpowering but it gave a real savouriness to what could otherwise have been a fairly bland soup. Looks like lunch is sorted for the next couple of days...

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
1 large floury potato, diced
1l stock
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 large head of broccoli
½ tsp dried thyme
125g Stilton, crumbled
1 tbsp crème fraiche

Sauté the onion, celery and potato for 5 minutes in the olive oil in a large saucepan; chop the thick stalk off the broccoli, dice and add to the other vegetables in the pan along with the crushed garlic and sauté for a further couple of minutes. Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the veg are almost tender.

Roughly chop the rest of the broccoli, add to the pan with the thyme and simmer for another 5 minutes. Blitz with a stick blender until smooth, adding a little more stock if necessary.

Keep back a tablespoon of the crumbled Stilton for garnish, then stir the rest of it and the crème fraiche into the soup.

This was based loosely on BBC Good Food's recipe.

Serves 6