Winter is a time when food must be hot, hearty and plentiful. It’s cold outside, and the kitchen provides the perfect remedy to that; both in terms of the cooking itself and the delicious dishes it produces.

Whenever I think of Winter, hot mugs of soup come immediately to mind. Soup is incredibly easy to make and wonderfully filling. It’s also very economical and a great way to use up any leftovers which can’t quite make it in quantity to stand on their own two feet!

This broccoli and stilton soup makes a hearty low-carb lunch or starter. As such, it’s great for diabetics or those on a ketogenic diet because the only carbohydrate in the whole thing is cellular, coming directly from the broccoli itself (2.13g net carbs per 100g = very low!). It will keep for several days in the fridge, but I very much doubt it will last that long!

If you don’t have stilton, any firm blue cheese will do (danish blue, st agur, roquefort &tc). You don’t need much, which is why this dish is great for using up odds and ends. We always buy lots of stilton & blue cheese at Christmas time, so often end up with various assorted bits of this and that. They all go in however, with simply stunning results!

Take a large onion and roughly dice. Place a deep casserole onto the hob, with butter and a little oil, then add the onion and cook this until it starts to turn translucent.

Whilst the onion is looking after itself, chop your broccoli and rinse lightly. In it goes to join the onion, then pour on water so that the vegetables are well submerged. Don’t go overboard on the water – it’s easy to add more, but you’ll end up with watery soup if you add too much. Rule of thumb? Just enough to cover the contents; more later…!

Crumble in a couple of chicken stock-cubes & dried herbs, then place the lid on the pan and simmer for 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft enough to collapse when pressed against the side of the pan with the back of a wooden spoon.

Finely dice your blue-cheese, then sprinkle this in (quantity to taste). Stir around, so that the cheese begins to melt; then go in with a stick-blender until smooth. Pour in a splosh of cream, then taste to check for seasoning. If you need a little water to thin things down, then add this in small quantities until your reach the desired consistency.

Ladle into bowls and eat whilst piping hot. Just the thing for a cold, winter’s day!

Browse this and other recipes by picture on my pinterest page: country walks in ketosis pinterest.

Thanks for reading and bon ap!

Adam.