A delicious soup for autumn and winter from Diana Henry.
Ingredients
- 70 g butter
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 stick celery diced
- 1 about 150g potato peeled and diced
- 600 g leeks trimmed at the base and top, cut into rings and thoroughly washed
- 650 ml chicken or vegetable stock
- 350 ml dry cider
- 200 ml double cream
- For the cheese and apple toasts
- 6 slices good bread
- unsalted butter at room temperature
- 300 g mix of extra-mature cheddar and Gruyère or Comté cheese grated
- 2 apples halved and cored
- Leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme
- Drizzle of runny honey
Servings:
Instructions
- Heat the butter and oil in a heavy-based pan and sauté the celery, potato and leeks until they are beginning to soften.
- Add a splash of water – about two tablespoons – season, and cover the pan. Sweat for about 20 minutes, adding a little more water occasionally to keep it moist.
- Stir in the stock, cider and more seasoning. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Leave to cool completely and purée the soup in batches.
- Return the soup to the pan. Before serving, heat it as soon as your toasts are ready, add the cream, heat through and check the seasoning.
- Toast the bread lightly and spread with butter. Divide the cheese between the slices, put them on to a grill pan and toast until the cheese is bubbling (how long this takes depends on how powerful your grill is – domestic grills vary hugely).
- Cut the apples into slices and melt about 20g of butter in a frying pan. Sauté the slices until they are slightly golden on both sides – they don’t have to be completely soft, a little crunch is good.
- Toss in the thyme and divide the apples between the toasts. Drizzle with a little honey and grind black pepper on top.
- Heat the soup and serve it with the toasts.
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