In the Kitchen: Bacon Broccoli & Cheddar Soup

Because it's autumn that means it's soup season in our house. We've just discovered that E has a penchant for enjoying Ramen noodles with corn & peas, and he's always loved the butternut squash soup that I do. But this time, we needed something different. We love the butternut squash soup, but it's nice to have a change. Plus, I had the better part of a head of broccoli left over from making my take on Spoon Fork Bacon's savoury bread pudding the other week, and it needed using up before it went off and grew mold all over the veggie drawer of the fridge.

The solution? Fake my way through a recipe for broccoli soup. How hard could it be? I reasoned. Not terribly hard at all, as I found out. Once you've got one vegetable soup, you've got quite a few. This is how it went down for me:

1 head of broccoli
4 small potatoes
3 medium cloves garlic
2 small onions
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
4 rashers bacon
.75 l water
.25 l milk
1 beef stock cube
125g each of mature cheddar & red leicester

1) chop coarsely and fry garlic, onions, & potatoes in oil. Add broccoli stems and 1/2 of florets.
2) fry bacon with veg. When bacon is cooked, add thyme & salt, and the rest of the broccoli.
3) Add stock cube, water, & milk.
4) Allow to boil long enough for veg to soften. About 15-20 minutes.
5) Blitz through food processor or with hand-held blender until smooth.
6) Reduce heat and add cheese slowly, stirring to melt.
7) Serve with garnish of pepper, cheese, bacon, or all of the above. Enjoy!