As per Lou’s request, here’s the recipe for my Green & Blue Soup. The reason for separating the florets from the stalk of the broccoli at the beginning of the recipe is that it prevents the broccoli from over-cooking which will give the soup a dull green colour and will give it that unpleasant smell you get from over-boiled vegetables. Adding the tender broccoli flower buds (broccoli head) and kale at the end of the cooking process gives the soup it’s beautiful vibrant green colour and will of course make the soup taste better. The “blue” aspect of the soup comes from the Fourme D’Ambert, a fairly mild blue veined cheese. It is produced in Auvergne, using cow’s milk and is one of France’s oldest traditional cheeses. “Fourme” is the old French word for cheese and it is derived from the Latin name “forma” which describes its cylindrical shape. In this recipe I recommend 100g of cheese but if like me you like the soup to pack a punch, feel free to add more. You can use any blue cheese in this recipe but I find the mild flavor of the Fourme D’Ambert compliments the vegetables well.
Ingredients
1 onion, diced
4 sticks celery
1 broccoli (trim very end of the dark green florets and set aside to use later)
1 small bunch of kale
1 medium sized potato, peeled and cubed
1 bay leaf
100g Fourme D’Ambert cheese
1 vegetable stock cube
500ml milk
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Chop up the onion, celery and the stem parts of the broccoli (any bit which isn’t a floret basically) and gently cook in a medium sized pan, on a low heat with some olive oil and a bay leaf. Once the vegetables have softened a bit, add some water (enough to cover the vegetables), the chopped potato and the stock cube. Bring to the boil then simmer for around 30-40mins. Add the milk and the cheese and cook on a gentle heat for another 5 minutes or so. Add the chopped kale and the broccoli now and cook on a high heat for about 3 minutes. Now blend the soup, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and serve.
