🥘 Carole’s – potato soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 200g speck or smoked lardons
• 2 large leeks, thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1.2 litres vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• 80g pitted prunes
• 500g potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 shallots or small onions, finely sliced
• fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Step by step:

1. Chop and slice all the vegetables and parsley
2. Fry off the speck or lardons in a pan with a splash of olive oil. After 5 minutes add all the vegetables except the onion and parsley. Cook for a few minutes, stirring so it doesn’t burn.
3. Add the vegetable stock and and simmer for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Stir through most of the parsley (reserving a little for garnish) and season to taste.
4. Fry off the onion in a knob of butter and cook until nice and crispy.
5. Serve topped with the onions and chopped parsley

Notes:

We use floury potatoes which tend to fall apart, adding to the creamy texture of the soup. Maris piper or king edward are ideal.

For vegetarian option, leave out the speck or lardons and increase the herbs and add some beans.

Cooking in the thermomix is very quick. Simply add all the ingredients except the onions and cook for 15 minutes. Meanwhile cook your onions in a frying pan.