How To Make A Simple Spinach Soup - A Quick And Easy Recipe....

This simple spinach soup recipe is quick and easy to make and is ideal for a family or anyone who is busy and still likes to eat a healthy lunch.

If your children don't like the taste or texture of spinach. Remind them that it was Popeyes favourite food and what's good for Popeye has to be good for them too...It worked for me!!

• 4 or 5 rashers of bacon, roughly chopped - can be omitted if you want a soup suitable for vegetarians.
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped.
• 600gr frozen spinach that's been defrosted - Zap it in the microwave to defrost if it's frozen.
• 3 or 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped.
• 1 heaped tbsp flour.
• 1200ml chicken or vegetable stock - I prefer chicken.
• 1 medium to large potato, roughly chopped.
• Half a teaspoon of grated nutmeg. Nutmeg adds a nice tasty, warmth to the spinach.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

• Gently fry the chopped bacon and onion together in a large pan or pressure cooker, until lightly browned.
• Add the defrosted spinach and flour, mix all the ingredients together and cook for two minutes, stirring to stop it from sticking to the pan.
• Add the stock, chopped potato, garlic, grated nutmeg and stir together.
• If using a pressure cooker, attach the lid and once the pan is hissing cook for seven minutes. Then remove from the heat. Once you can open the pan, blend the soup using a hand-blender or you can spoon the soup into an upright blender and blend it to your preferred consistency.
• If using an ordinary saucepan, cover and bring to the boil, let it simmer for thirty minutes. Remove from the heat and blend using a hand-blender or spoon the soup into an upright blender and blend it to your preferred consistency.
• Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

• Dish into bowls and sprinkle with cheese and croutons. Serve with fresh crusty bread or toast

I would highly recommend using freshly grated nutmeg and freshly ground pepper if you can, pepper can be easily ground using a pepper mill - you can buy peppercorns that come in cheap, plastic pepper mills if you don't have a pepper mill although it is worth investing in a proper pepper mill and you can easily grate whole nutmeg with a fine metal grater, you'll really taste the difference.

It's worth investing in a pressure cooker and a handblender if you make soups regularly from scratch. They really don't take much longer to cook than a store bought soup and are so much healthier as you know exactly what goes into them.