Courgette Soup with Bacon & Blue Cheese Bread
Ingredients
1 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 sprigs thyme
1kg courgettes, chopped
1L vegetable stock
15g fresh mint
Salt and pepper
For the bread:
500g self-raising flour
1/2 Tbs salt
340ml beer
Water
100g blue cheese, crumbled
125g streaky bacon, chopped and fried
30g parsley, chopped
4 spring onions, chopped
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbs grated Parmesan
Instructions
Sauté onions, leek, celery and thyme until vegetables have softened.
Add courgettes and stock then bring to the boil and simmer until the courgettes are tender.
Remove from the heat, add mint and blend soup until smooth.
Season with salt and pepper to taste
For the bread:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a loaf tin or individual oven dishes.
Mix flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in the beer and add a little water if the dough is to dry.
Mix in the blue cheese, cooked bacon, parsley and spring onions.
Transfer the dough to the loaf tin then brush with egg wash and sprinkle over the Parmesan cheese.
Bake for about 90 minutes, test with a skewer after about one hour when the top is golden brown – if the skewer comes out clean, remove from the oven and cool slightly before serving with butter and soup of your choice.