Broccoli & Blue Cheese Soup

not too long ago, i finally plucked up the courage to try blue cheese and i fell in love with it immediately. i wished i tried it earlier but i just didn't hv guts to. while extremely strong & pungent and definitely an acquired taste, it's really addictive. i love the savory scent and the yeasty beer-like aftertaste that lingers in my mouth. while good on its own, i love them with crackers, grapes & dried figs. i must try it with wine one of these days and perhaps come up with my own antipasti & cheese platter :p and then, i've been dreaming about making a creamy, chunky soup for a long time now but never really gotten around it. i actually had a few options in mind - cauliflower, pea & ham, clam chowder, mushroom, pumpkin & carrot etc but when i came across this recipe, i knew i had to try it.

i'm extremely satisfied with my 1st attempt on creamy soups. this one is really easy to make and my handheld immersion blender came in just handy. no mess, no extra blender to wash. plus i love the fact it doesn't use any flour nor much cream to thicken but from the potatoes instead so its filling but not overwhelming nor cloying. i had the soup with some homemade garlic toast and what i did was, i sliced up a loaf of baguette, minced some garlic, english parlsey and added them in melted butter. spread the mixture onto the baguette and sent them into the toaster for a few mins. previously it didn't occur to me to add minced garlic into melted butter. the idea somehow just came. i used to rely on commercial garlic spread on the supermarket shelves and those were really quite horrible & crappy. i also tried rubbing garlic cloves on the bread but it didn't work, so this method of adding minced garlic into melted butter seemed 2b the best and hubby loves it.

ingredients (serves 4-6) :

recipe source :
http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Broccoli-and-Blue-Cheese-Soup-L530.html

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, diced

2 large potatoes, cut into big pcs

500g broccoli, cut into pcs

2L chicken stock

125ml fresh cream

150g blue cheese, cubed

directions :

1. heat oil in a large pan & cook onion.

2. add the potatoes & broccoli and cook for another 4 mins.

3. add chicken stock and bring to a boil.

4. reduce heat and simmer for 20 mins until the potatoes and well cooked.

5. use a blender to blend all the ingredients.

6. add the fresh cream and blue cheese and stir well on low heat until all the blue cheese has dissolved.

7. garnish with more blue cheese before serving.