A great hearty soup for the autumn or winter. I love the marriage of Stilton and Broccoli and the two flavours combine to produce a really British soup.
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Cut up the leeks & celery roughly.
Cut up the peeled onions.
Cut up the saved broccoli stalks. Put all the vegetables int a saucepan with oil.
Cut the Stilton up into chunks.
Sweat the vegetables in the oil.
Add the Stilton to the pan.
Mix in the flour.
Add the water or vegetable stock and mix in well. Bring to the boil and reduce to simmer for 40 minutes.
Use a stick blender to puree the soup or transfer to a blender or food processor.
Add some cream, reboil and taste.
Add salt and pepper if necessary.
Serve with wholemeal rolls or bread.
Now you may buy a lot of broccoli or at least weekly and be in the habit of cutting the chunky stalk out and throwing it away. Don't do that, save your stalks in the freezer then use in the soup instead of using all the good florets. Chop them up and use in place of the broccoli in the recipe. When you have puréed the soup with a blender then pass the soup through chinois (conical strainer). This will remove the tough fibres that don't break down in the cooking process.
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