BROCCOLI & STILTON SOUP

January is definitely a soup kind of month - there's something immensely comforting about eating a steaming hot bowl of soup when the weather is as chilly as it has been lately. It's also a great portable lunch - I often used to pack up a thermos of soup when I worked in an office. I admit that this recipe is not all that dissimilar to the Cauliflower Cheese Soup I posted a while back (link here) but I hope you'll forgive me because the end result tastes quite different. Although the cheese (and butter) in it might not be so great for the waistline, this soup does at least deliver one of your five-a-day. It's also s(o)uper tasty!

If I'm perfectly honest, my main reason for making this soup was to use up the last of our Christmas cheeseboard. We had a really nice selection of British cheeses this year - creamy Somerset Brie, crumbly Wensleydale with cranberries, tangy vintage Cheddar and strong blue Stilton. I do love a good cheeseboard, but I'm not someone who regularly eats cheese on its own so most of the leftovers were used up in cooking. I just love how oozy and gooey cheese goes when it's melted - yum! There are loads of tasty ways to use Stilton in cooking - my favourites are to add nuggets of it to macaroni cheese and to crumble it over a mushroom or squash risotto.

Broccoli & Stilton soup

Serves 3-4

10g butter
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
150g (peeled weight) potato, peeled and cut into 1-cm cubes
225g broccoli, separated into florets
750ml vegetable stock (I used Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Powder)
100g Stilton (or other blue cheese), cubed
freshly grated black pepper and nutmeg, to season

Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan over a low–medium heat. Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the potato, increase the heat a little and cook for 5 minutes.

Put the broccoli into the pan and pour over the stock - don't worry if the stock doesn't quite cover the broccoli. Bring to the boil, then partially cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the broccoli is very tender.

Season to taste with plenty of black pepper and nutmeg. Remove the pan from the heat and, using a hand-held stick blender, process the soup in the pan until smooth (or leave the soup a little chunky if you prefer).

Add the Stilton to the soup, return the pan to a low heat and stir until melted. Transfer to bowls and serve.

Tips

• Skip the butter if you're counting the calories - it's there for the flavour but the soup will taste perfectly fine without it.
• I use the broccoli stalk as well as the florets - just remember to peel off and discard the thick outer skin before slicing.
• A stick blender makes the job of blending soup incredibly easy but you can, of course, use a blender or food processor instead. Just allow the soup to cool down a little before processing and work in batches if necessary.
• I like my soup thick, but feel free to add extra stock (or even a little milk) if you prefer a thinner consistency.

CLASSIC FISH CAKES

We all know that fish is good for us, but any parent will tell you that such a logical argument is unlikely to induce a picky child to eat it! These fish cakes are a great way to introduce fish to reluctant fish eaters. They are admittedly a bit of a faff to make but their saving grace is that they can be prepared ahead of time. Conveniently combining fish and potatoes, they are also freezable and are therefore perfect to have at hand for a quick and easy supper.

I generally use cod in this recipe but you could use any white fish. In a bid to persuade my daughter to eat oily fish, I've tried making these fish cakes with half cod and half salmon and I think that combination is pretty tasty. (My daughter rumbled me but still ate a fair amount so I am undeterred!) Of course, some kids will object to 'the bits' (parsley) but you could simply leave that out.

Classic fish cakes

Makes 12 fish cakes
1 lemon
500g skinless, boneless cod fillets
500g potatoes (peeled weight), cut into large chunks
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)
40g plain flour
2 eggs, beaten
85g dried natural breadcrumbs or panko
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Finely grate the rind of the lemon and set aside. Place the cod fillets in a large ceramic baking dish and squeeze over the juice from the lemon. Cover the baking dish with foil, transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 15–20 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through and flakes easily. Allow to cool slightly, then flake the fish into a large mixing bowl, keeping the chunks nice and big.

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a saucepan of lightly salted boiling water for 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and mash thoroughly (this is the one occasion I dust down my potato rice), then add to the fish in the mixing bowl.

Add the reserved grated lemon rind, the parsley and freshly grated pepper to taste. Stir gently to combine the ingredients; do not mix too vigorously because you don't want to break down the fish chunks. Cover the bowl and transfer to the fridge to chill before you shape it into fish cakes - 15 minutes will do but you can leave it longer (even overnight) if you prefer.

When you're ready to shape the fish cakes, place the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs into separate shallow dishes. Line a large baking tray with a baking paper.

Remove the fish mixture from the fridge and divide into 12 equal portions. I do this by packing a 1/3-cup measuring cup with the mixture (don't worry - it easily pops out again when held upside down and given a sharp tap on the base). Form each portion into a patty shape (approximately 2.5 cm thick) and roll it in the flour, then place it on the prepared baking tray. Finally, roll each patty first in the egg and then in the breadcrumbs to cover it completely and return to the baking tray. At this stage, it is a good idea to chill the fish cakes for at least 10 minutes because this will help them keep their shape when cooking.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over a medium heat in a large frying pan. Add half the fishcakes and fry on one side for 3–4 minutes, or until sealed and golden brown. Flip over the fish cakes and cook for a further 3–4 minutes on the other side. Finally, turn the fishcakes on their sides to brown the edges, giving them a 60 degree turn every minute or so and continuing until browned all the way around. Keep the fish cakes warm in a low oven whilst you fry the rest using the remaining tablespoon of oil.

Serve the fishcakes with vegetables and a dipping sauce of your choice.

Tips

• I've tried making these using fish from the freezer aisle in the supermarket but it was an abject failure - they were too watery and it resulted in a mixture that was a sticky mess! Therefore, I'd advise saving the frozen fish for fish pie or curry and using fresh fish for these fish cakes.
• I'm a big fan of panko (Japanese-style breadcrumbs) for a crunchy topping on things like pasta bakes but prefer the finer texture of traditional dried breadcrumbs for fish cakes. Either will work fine though. 
• Breadcrumbing (or panéing) can generate a lot of mess. I tend to coat all the fish cakes in the flour first, then one by one roll them in the egg and breadcrumbs, using one hand for the egg and the other for the breadcrumbs. It saves me from breadcrumbing my fingers!
• If you want to freeze the fish cakes, do so before frying them. Open-freeze on the baking tray, then wrap individually in clingfilm and pack into a freezerproof container. Defrost fully before frying.
• This recipe yields 12 equal-sized fish cakes but you may prefer to make smaller fish cakes for the kids and/or larger ones for adults. If so, bear in mind that you will need to adjust the quantities of flour and breadcrumbs accordingly.