Broccoli, Spinach and Stilton Soup

On the 25^th of October this year, the day after my birthday, and Wayne Rooney’s, in an enclave of Leicestershire that would be of no relevance in particular should it not be for its proximity to Britain’s ‘Rural Capital of Food’ Melton Mowbray, a world record breaking lump of Stilton cheese tipped the scales at 140kg.

To make ‘The Beast’ as it has become affectionately known, The ‘Long Clawson Dairy’ used 824 litres of full fat milk, 1.8kg of salt, 190ml of vegetarian rennet (a naturally occurring substance that acts as a coagulant), and 0.0003g of dairy cultures, a form of bacteria. After 12 weeks of maturing it was ready to be sliced open and enjoyed on a massive Carr’s water biscuit.

A few years ago I was on a beach in the north east of Greece about 100km east of Thessaloniki, in a peculiar camp site not entirely unlike a run down Baltic Butlins filled with large Greek families headed by portly patriarchs and matriarchs serving up saganaki. This wasn’t that unusual; the fact that a trance festival was going on around them in the same site however certainly made for some interesting observations and conversations. It was certainly a reality check on a few occasions for wasted revellers, myself included, as we encountered holidaying families and their children playing on a beach in blissful sobriety, seemingly unaware of the goings on around them. There was a point when I got a few strange looks as I marched to the beach and began stuffing rocks into a rucksack to take them back to my campsite, in order to make a border for an elaborate network of pathways that a friend and me had created to pass the time whilst waiting for our friends to arrive from the airport.

Another thing one does at these festivals after constructing the ultimate ergonomic camping area, is experiment with mind altering substances. Never one to shy away from a new experience I recalled an article I’d read detailing the effects of ingesting excessive amounts of blue cheese on the mind, and thought I’d give it a go. 500g of cheese later and I certainly felt very different, delirious in fact, not helped by the forty degree heat, however if you can get past these initial side effects I'm sure it'll make a far nicer tipple than the so called 'Meow Meow' or even those horse tranquilisers some people seem to be snorting. In fact, I may start dealing Stilton. 

The answer then is, like many things in life, moderation. You don’t need 140kg of Long Clawson stilton, 1 will be quite enough for this recipe, and to last you and your water biscuits into the new year.

Ingredients: (Serves 6)

1 large white onion

1 large bag of spinach

1 head of broccoli

1 tablespoon plain flour

Healthy knob of butter

Salt and Pepper

2.5 litres of vegetable stock

150g stilton

Double cream to garnish

Method:

1. In a large saucepan heat the butter and cook the onions until soft but not brown, chuck in the flour and stir through. Add the vegetable stock and broccoli and bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 6 minutes. Add the spinach and stir in so it wilts, simmer for another few minutes until the broccoli is cooked.

2. Take the saucepan off the heat and blend the contents either in a processor or with a hand held blender, the latter is far easier. Add a slug of double cream and stir it through, crumble up lumps of stilton into the soup and stir so they melt, season, serve.