Courgette soup with rosemary and St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Croute

Jane Stewart’s cheese has great strength and depth of flavour, its seems a shame to waste any part of it, so like the Italians with Parmesan I use the rind from her cheese to add flavour, there is no stock in this soup the flavour comes from the cheese

INGREDIENTS

3 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 kg courgettes chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed
grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
sprig rosemary
30g rind from St Andrews farmhouse cheese
550ml whole milk

6 slices of French loaf or other large crouton
30g grated St Andrews farmhouse cheese

METHOD

1 Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a low heat and sweat the onions until soft, about 7 minutes

2 Add the chopped courgettes with the crushed garlic, a little nutmeg and some salt and pepper, stir in the rosemary and cheese rind, lower the heat and cover, leave for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally ’til the courgettes are soft.

3 Remove the rosemary and add the milk and allow to simmer for 5 minutes but not boil, then remove the rind and liquidise

to serve the soup, brush the bread croutes with a little olive oil and toast briefly under a hot grill, turn over and sprinkle the cheese on top and melt briefly under the grill serve floating on top of the soup

Recipe kindly donated by Christopher Trotter – Fife Food Ambassador