Gruyère & vegetable soup

• medium leek↗1 1
• medium carrot↗1 1

  peeled

• small potato↗1 1

  weighing about 175g/6oz, peeled

• stick of celery1 1

  or half a small bulb of fennel

• medium onion↗1 1
• butter↗50g 50g
• olive oil↗2 tbsp 2 tbsp
• sprigs of thyme↗4 4

  stripped of their leaves or 2 pinches of dried thyme

• plain flour↗2 tbsp 2 tbsp
• vegetable stock↗700ml 700ml

  or chicken stock (using a cube)

• milk↗300ml 300ml
• small head broccoli↗1 1

  trimmed into small florets, stalk discarded

• flat-leaf parsley↗small handful of small handful of

  leaves, roughly chopped

• gruyère↗140g 140g

  coarsely grated

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Wash and trim the leek, cut off and discard half the green top, then thinly slice. Peel and chop the carrot and potato into a small dice. Thinly slice the celery or fennel into bite-size sticks and dice the onion. The vegetables should all be of roughly the same size.

2. 2

   Heat the butter and oil in a medium pan and gently sweat all the vegetables, except the broccoli, with the thyme leaves for about 10 minutes, stirring every now and then until softened, but not coloured.

3. 3

   Add the flour to the pan and stir for a minute until it all becomes pasty, then slowly stir in the stock. Bring to the boil, stirring until thick then add the milk, season well and reduce to a simmer.

4. 4

   Continue to simmer for 10 minutes, then add the broccoli florets and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until the broccoli is just cooked. When ready to serve, stir in most of the parsley, then ladle the hot soup into four bowls. Scatter each serving with the cheese and remaining parsley, for your diners to stir in. The gruyère will melt into strings, which is all part of its charm.