Always a winner, this soup. You can use fresh or ‘limp’ broccoli and the taste is just as good.  As you can see here the broccoli is quite limp, my friends who have used this recipe nicknamed it Floppy Broccoli Soup, so here it is.

Floppy Broccoli Soup

Ingredients

2 to 3 heads of broccoli + their stalks - can be quite old and limp 

3 medium brown onions peeled and quartered - if mouldy peel out the layers until ‘clean’

 3 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped

 2 large potatoes, scrubbed and chopped in med sized chunks (no need to peel) 

1  handful spinach, roughly chopped

2 ltr of chicken stock 

drizzle of olive oil

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Method

In a medium to large sized pot drizzle the olive oil add the onions, potatoes and garlic and sauté on medium heat.

Pour the stock in and while that is heating roughly chop your broccoli using all of it (just cut off the very end of the stalk as that can be pretty tough) put into the pot. Salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to the boil and then turn down to a  simmer and add the bay leaves. Cook gently for about 15 minutes until the potato is soft.

Remove the bay leaves (they will have done their stuff!) and use a blending stick to blend until smooth. Add the chopped spinach and blend again.

I put the sour cream in and swirl it around, not mixing too thoroughly.This is not essential but can add richness and  look pretty. Sometimes a squeeze of lemon is right if you happen to have one about.