This soup recipe has waited more than eight years to have its moment in our home. I bookmarked it in 2008 soon after it was posted by Jac on Tinned Tomatoes, and this month it was the perfect thing for bringing together the onion, potatoes, spinach and pear that arrived in our vege box. With garlic already in the cupboard and some home-made stock in the freezer, all we had to buy was the blue cheese.
It's a simple formula that I made my tweaks to. I took my time cooking the onions down to soft caramelisation, Michael left the skin on the potatoes when he chopped them, and I retained the spinach stems too. It would all fall prey to the stick blender, after all! When that time came, my soup wasn't as gloriously green as Jac's, and I needed an extra cup of water to smooth its way.
In our khaki soup, I was surprised how easily I could pick out the pear's sweetness from the pungency of the blue cheese, and the thick carbohydrate comfort of the potatoes. It was a comfort and a pleasure; well worth the wait.
Spinach, pear & blue cheese soup
(slightly adapted from a recipe on Tinned Tomatoes)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 medium potatoes, skin on or off, roughly diced
1 bunch spinach, washed and roots removed
1 large pear, peeled, cored and diced
750mL vegetable stock
100g blue cheese
2 teaspoons vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
extra blue cheese, cayenne, nutmeg, and/or fresh herbs to garnish
Heat the oil in a your largest saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the onion and saute it gently until soft and sweet, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the spinach and cook until wilted. Add the pear and pour over the stock. Place a lid on the saucepan and cook for 30 minutes.
Crumble in the blue cheese and stir until melted. Season with Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth with a stick blender. Pour into bowls, garnish and serve.
looks really good for our autumnal weather - glad it delivered after all that time
ReplyDeleteHi Johanna! Indeed - I'm actually not a huge soup enthusiast but this has got me right into the groove for autumn. :-)
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