Creamy broccoli and potato soup

Preparation

• 1
  1. First prepare the vegetables. Rinse the broccoli, remove any thick, tough stems and cut it into small florets, cutting larger ones into smaller pieces. Chop the onion finely. Top and tail the leek, cut down the middle and rinse well then slice into small chunks. Peel the potato then dice finely.
• 2
  2. In a very large saucepan, heat the oil and butter together. Add the onion and sauté over a low heat for 5 minutes, until softened but not browned, stirring occasionally. Then add the leek and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
• 3
  3. Keep back 3 florets of broccoli for garnish and add the rest to the pan, stirring to mix with the onion and leek. Then stir in the potato, making sure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the stock, a little at a time, then leave to simmer gently for 20-25 minutes, or until the potato is cooked through.
• 4
  4. Steam the reserved broccoli florets for about 5 minutes, then refresh by running under cold water.
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  5. Add the crumbled cheese to the pan and stir for a few moments until it has melted. Turn off the heat and use a hand blender to blend everything into a thick, smooth soup.
• 6
  6. Reheat, add the cream and season to taste. Be careful, you will need very little salt because of the saltiness of the cheese.
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  7. To serve, garnish with a few very thin slices of the reserved broccoli, and sprinkle on some paprika, or an extra grinding of black pepper if you prefer.
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  <strong>Notes:</strong> The small amount of blue stilton used in this recipe means that the flavour is quite subtle, but you could use a mature cheddar instead if you don’t like blue cheeses.
• 9
  This recipe produces a fairly thick soup. To adjust the consistency to your taste, simply use a little more or less stock.
• 10
  For those wanting to reduce the calorie count further, add crème fraiche or Greek yoghurt instead of the double cream, stirring well to blend it in, or perhaps replace some of the stock with semi skimmed milk instead.
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  Or you may wish to increase the modest amount of double cream used to make it a more luxurious dish!