Recently, one of our lovely friends asked us to come up with some more satisfying soup recipes for her to take to work that are full of nutrients to fight off winter colds. We immediately thought back to the very first soup we ever made – lettuce soup. It’s super retro and came out of a very 80s veggie cookbook complete with blurry, dimly lit photos! It didn’t look very appetising but once we’d made the first batch, we were in love. I know, it sounds strange to be in love with a boring old soup, but it’s pretty refreshing and flavourful, and it was therefore perfect as a starter for our parents’ dinner parties. The original involved butter, onions, lettuce and cream – very simple and très français. We’ve updated it to include garlic (great for blood vessels), spinach (anti-inflammatory and chock full of vitamins), potatoes (vitamin B6 and a thickener), chicken stock (for yumminess) and blue Stilton (for extra yumminess) and removed the cream (too sinful for everyday). You can opt to leave out the Stilton but a) it’s nearly Christmas! Why not? and b) if you’re English, you probably have had a block of blue cheese hanging out in your fridge anyway since…well, we won’t ask!

Hope you like it, V 🙂

1 tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped roughly
125g spinach leaves
3 potatoes, cubed
600ml water
1 cube of chicken stock (can substitute with vegetable stock or leave out entirely)
30g blue Stilton, crumbled

1. Heat the butter on medium heat in a saucepan. When melted, add the onion and garlic and cook until golden.
2. Add the lettuce and spinach and cook on a low heat with the lid on, until wilted. This should take 5 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes, water and stock cube. Turn the heat up so that the water boils. When it has started to boil, turn the heat down to simmer and cover the pan. Cook for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are fully cooked.
4. Take the pan off the heat and process, using a hand held blender or a food processor.
5. Add the Stilton and stir so that it melts and is fully incorporated.
6. Serve immediately with some bread or pour into containers ready to take to work!

So what do you think? Feel free to share your questions and comments below! We’d love to hear what you have to say.