Recipe: Creamy Spinach Soup with Garlic

The lovely, leafy spinach in this recipe makes for a flavoursome and intriguing bright-green soup.

Ingredients

• 50g butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 medium potato, peeled and chopped into chunks
• 450ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 600ml milk
• 450g fresh spinach, washed if necessary and roughly chopped
• finely grated zest of half a lemon
• freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
• 3 tbsp. double cream, to serve

Method

1. Melt the butter in a large lidded saucepan, add the onion and garlic and fry gently for 5-6 minutes until softening. Stir in the potato and continue to cook gently for 1 minute.
2. Pour in the stock and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the potato starts to cook. Pour in the milk and bring up to a simmer, then stir in half the spinach and the lemon zest.
3. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes until the spinach has completely wilted down. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
4. Pour the soup into a blender (preferably) or food processor, add the remaining spinach (this will keep the soup bright green and fresh tasting) and process until silky smooth – you may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your machine. (The soup may now be frozen for up to 1 month.
5. Defrost in the microwave or overnight in the fridge. The soup may lose some of its vibrancy on freezing, but the flavour won’t be impaired.)
6. Return to the pan and reheat. Taste and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. You may like to dilute the soup with a little extra stock if too thick.
7. Ladle the soup into bowls and swirl in the cream.

Also Read: Recipe: Creamy Mediterranean Spaghetti