Wayne's Spinach and Leek Soup

Today I'm mainly sunburned after a weekend of looking at puffins, so here is another of our brilliantly talented guess bloggers.  Today, it's Wayne's turn with a simple and healthy spinach and leek number.  You can find Wayne on twitter where he is @wazzy76  Feel free to say nice things about him..

Hi I’m Wayne and very happy to be guest blogging on Soup Tuesday. As like Dan I am a lover of soup, well all food in general but particularly soup. When I'm not entertaining my three children (who also love food) I'm cooking, eating or testing recipes.

Our busy lives are centred around our kitchen table it’s a cliche to say but the hub of our home is our kitchen.

Why soup? Soup to me is like a good wine something to accompany any good meal or to be enjoyed on its own, responsibly of course.

A creation using ingredients that can be anything you want it to be healthy, unhealthy, filling, refreshing, a snack or meal I'm sure you get the gist.

I gave up on recipe books for soup a long time ago its better to be creative and add whatever tastes right.

 

Spinach and leek soup.

Not a lover of spinach and after using it in quite a lot of ways, still not enjoying its iron like taste, I discovered a variation of this recipe in a little café in the lakes after a long walk trying to tire out the kids only 2 days into the Easter break.
After having the soup a phrase often used by my many school teachers came to mind “Could do better“, So adding a note to my jotter (memory like a sieve) saved the idea for future reference.

Da daaa here it is a really refreshing healthy soup with a all the added extras that come with spinach (far to many to mention) with a really fresh taste. Also good to note dairy and gluten free (depending on the stock)

Ingredients
2 table spoons olive oil
2 large onions (diced)
4 garlic cloves (crushed)
4 leeks (washed and sliced)
Half bag fresh spinach leaves( the ones in the salad fridge of most supermarkets)
2ltrs veg stock

Method

1. Heat the oil. Add the diced onions sweat off for approx 3 mins

2. Add the crushed garlic cook for another minute

3. Throw in the leeks and continue to cook stirring through for a few minutes. Add the vegetable stock and season

4. Bring pan up to a simmer and cook for approx 10/15 minutes. Reduce the heat

5. Add the spinach and stir through. It does disappear to nothing but all the flavours still there.

6. Use a hand held blender and give the soup a quick blast (be careful not to splash)

7. Season to taste.

Healthy dieting type people can enjoy it on its own, I prefer it with a thick wedge of warm wholemeal buttered bread.