Broccoli & Blue Cheese Soup

My fridge is bursting with leftover cheese but clearly this does not bode well with the whole healthy eating, losing weight mission that naturally follows the festive season. 

Cheese has to be my sin of choice. In fact I frequently choose a cheese plate over a pudding when eating out.  I kind of consider myself a bit of a cheese snob. No boring old Port Salut or the Christmas standard stilton on my cheeseboard!  Favourites on our cheeseboard this Christmas included Ossau Iraty, Sardinian aged pecorino and Cashel Blue. I somehow ended up with the leftover cheese from New Years Eve dinner party where we all brought a course to our friends house. I've been very good not to tuck into any of it this week, but can't stand the fact that it's sitting in the fridge waiting to be devoured! 

The leftover New Years Eve cheese was dolcelatte so this is what I used in the soup, but you can use your favourite blue cheese or whatever is lurking in your fridge.

Serves 4:

• 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
• 1 large potato: 350g when peeled and chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• Spritz of olive oil
• Head of broccoli, approx 350g.
• 1.5 litre water
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• Seasoning
• 60g blue cheese, crumbled or chopped

What to do:

This is quite a quick soup to prepare as it doesn't require much chopping.  Get the kettle on the boil to begin with. Then, spritz your saucepan with a little olive oil and saute the onions on a moderate to low heat for a few minutes until soft. Add a touch of water if too dry.  Prepare the broccoli by removing the stalks from the main tree. Discard the tree part and then separate the stalks from the florets. The stalks take a bit longer to cook and overcooking the florets will result in a loss of the the lovely green colour so it's best to separate them.


Add the diced potato and the stalks from the broccoli followed by boiling water. Judge the amount of water based on how well it covers the vegetables. You will need approx 1.5 litres. Crumble the stock cube in and add the bay leaf and season.  Leave to bubble away for 15 minutes and then add the florets.  Cook for another 5-8 minutes until the potatoes and broccoli stalks are tender. Remove the bay leaf and blend. Put the soup back on a low heat and stir in the cheese so it melts.

Serve with 50g wedge of baguette and some freshly ground black pepper.

WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 3 for the soup, 3 for 50g baguette