Not Another Food Blog

Apple, blue cheese and wine soup.

Everything happens for a reason, and often an unfortunate event will lead to an unexpected yet positive outcome or discovery. I was travelling through Spain in 2004 where I found myself in rather unpleasant circumstances. The day we were leaving Barcelona resulted in a stolen passport, lost plane tickets, police reports, and two hamsters, one with a missing foot.

It’s a long story but let’s just say we ended up taking a detour to Madrid where we got stuck for a few days. What looked like a nightmare at the start turned into one of the best travel experiences and a real gourmet treat. Who would have thought that in the country of cured meats it was a humble vegetarian soup that blew my socks off.

I’ve been thinking about the flavour - apple, blue cheese and white wine - ever since and about two years ago I decided to recreate it for a degustation dinner party. I managed to pull it off and it was a big hit at the table. I still haven’t found the original recipe but I’ve finally perfected my own. It’s a rich but delicate soup that is best suited for dinner parties as you only need a small bowl to get satisfied. It’s pretty special.

Ingredients
Serves 6-8 people

2 lg green apples, peeled and chopped, Granny Smith are best
½ cup chopped shallots (10 small ones, or use spring white onions)
1 leek, only use the green part thinly sliced
50 gm butter
1 cup dry white wine, I used Sauvignon Blanc
2 ½ cups vegetable stock
½ cup water
150 gm mild soft blue cheese, Blue Costello is great for this recipe
300 ml cream, I used thickened light cooking cream
sea salt, cracked pepper, tablespoon lemon juice
chives, finally chopped for garnishing

1. Heat up the butter in a medium saucepan, add shallots and leek and sauté (slowly cook on low/med heat) for a couple of minutes.
2. Add apples and sauté for another 2 minutes, keep stirring to prevent burning.
3. Pour in the wine and bring up the heat, stir and cook for 2-3 minutes letting the wine to evaporate a little.
4. Add  stock and water and once boiling bring the heat down to low/medium and cook for 20-25 minutes or until the apples are nice and soft. Stir occasionally.
5. Keeping the heat low, crumble the blue cheese and add to the soup. Let it melt in, stir and take off the heat.
6. Puree the soup until smooth, add ½ teaspoon each of cracked pepper and sea salt. Mix through. Now pour in the cream and give it another good stir with a spoon or a whisk. Taste the soup, it should be a little sweet but also have enough salt. You may have to add another pinch or two now that the cream is in. Finally add the lemon juice, stir and chill the soup.

You can serve the soup warm but it’s best left in the fridge for an hour or so and served cold garnished with some chopped chives.