Souperfoods.......

Winter has most definitely arrived. The oil heater in the lounge is constantly on, and despite Pru’s best efforts to actually wedge herself in between the columns, some heat heroically still manages to penetrate the rest of the room. I hate being cold. How people live in snow and arctic conditions is truly beyond me. I imagine my ancestors, sitting in a damp cottage in Ireland somewhere, struck out for the New World not because they were starving, or sick to death of potatoes (yum!), but because they wanted to be warm. Given my inherited lack of any sense of direction whatsoever, they were probably aiming for Florida, or maybe Hawaii, but Auckland is still considerably warming than many other parts of the country, thank the Lord they never reached Dunedin….


To me cold means soup. Soup to warm, soup to nourish, soup for no other reason than I can put it in a cup and warm my hands. Saturday lunch was a bowl of Broccoli soup, with some Turkish bread, slathered in pesto and warmed in the oven (see, even my bread has to be warm…). Tasty, super easy to whip up, cheap, and filling, surely this is a definition of superfood? I sprinkled some blue I found lurking in the cheese bin onto my bowl, guilding the lily maybe……?

Broccoli soup


A good size knob of butter

1 medium onion peeled and diced

1 large potato peeled and diced

2 small-average size heads of broccoli

300 ml chicken stock mixed with 250 mls water

A dash of cream (optional)

Melt the butter over a gentle heat and add your onion and potato. Sweat gently for about 10 mins until the onion is translucent. Season with a good pinch of salt & pepper, and add your broccoli and stock/water mix. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10-15 mins until the broccoli is tender. Blitz with your trusty stick blender (or tip into a normal blender & puree, I avoid this as I can’t seem to transfer hot liquids without burning myself……) You could put it through a sieve if you like it extra smooth, but it is fine a little chunkier. I add a dash of cream, but again it isn’t essential. Check the seasoning, and serve steaming hot with or without a carb element.

We ate this on Saturday while watching Scarface…if it isn’t war films or the History channel its gangsta paradise in our hood……except of course at the moment its Football central, I believe there is a World Cup on? Mr D is already a happy bunny with Chelsea winning the Premiership, the All Whites make the second round and his soup cup may well runneth over.

Good luck tonight boys, we will be rugged up and watching!