Leek, Potato and Blue Cheese Soup

Cheese. It's a serious business. And we here at Soup Manors eat more cheese at Christmas than at any other time of the year.  Mainly because we do nothing but sit around watching all 6 Lord of the Rings movies, drinking enormous quantities of red wine and eating biscuits.  And nothing accompanies those things better than a nice bit of cheese (I think any hobbits reading this would agree wholeheartedly)

And this year, much to my surprise, when the hangovers cleared and Frodo had sailed to the Grey Havens, I found that we still had a big hunk of blue cheese left which needed something doing with (as we had decided to get all healthy and didn't really want to be sitting around in our hobbit holes when there was a whole outside world to be getting exercise in) so what better fate for a cheese than to be turned into a soup.  And what better soup to use said cheese in than a Leek, Potato and Cheese soup?

Because I'm being super (soup-er? Geddit?) organised this year I actually got round to making this soup a whole day before I got round to consuming it, so I thought I'd try something that I heard a while ago, which is soup made a day in advance, especially a milky/cheesy soup has its flavour intensified by being kept in the fridge for a day beforehand.  And what do you know, it really works - the soup had a much richer, deeper flavour than other sups of this kind I've made before.  So if you have the time, I highly recommend making your soup in advance.  Its ace...

Ingredients
2 Leeks
300g Potatoes
1 Onion
4 Cloves Garlic
100g Cambazola Cheese
30g Butter
1 Bay Leaf
600ml Vegetable Stock
400ml Milk
Salt and Pepper

Method
1. Peel and chop the potato, leek, onion and garlic. Heat the butter in your soup pan.  Add the garlic, onion and leek and cook for a few minutes with the lid on until everything is soft.  Add the potato and cook for a few more minutes.

2.  Add the stock, bay leaf and thyme.  Bring the soup to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are soft and just starting to break up.

3.  Crumble up the blue cheese and add to the soup, along with the milk.  Cook over a gentle heat until everything has cooked through and the cheese has melted into the soup.  Adjust seasoning to taste and serve.  Enjoy!