Lemon and broccolini soup

http://technicolorkitcheninenglish.blogspot.com/2009/08/lemon-and-broccolini-soup.html

Girls, thank you for all the haircut suggestions – I’m so glad you shared your thoughts with me! I’ll let you know when I make up my mind. :D

Because you are so sweet and dear to me, I’m offering you this soup: I could be offering you cookies or something with chocolate – I’d like that a lot more - but I want you to be healthy and strong. So soup it is. :D

Lemon and broccolini soup
slightly adapted from DH mag #34

2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
½ tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed*
400g broccolini, coarsely chopped
4 cups (960ml) vegetable stock
100g spinach leaves
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
sour cream or crème fraîche, to serve

Heat a deep, medium saucepan over high heat. Add the butter, olive oil, onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the onion is tender. Add the broccolini and cook for another minute. Add the stock, bring to the boil and cook for 8-10 minutes or until the broccolini is tender. Add the spinach and cook for a further 1-2 minutes. Pour mixture into a blender or use an immersion (hand-held) blender to blend the soup until smooth - be careful because you are dealing with hot liquid; keep the end of the blender immersed in the soup all the time to stop the liquid from spilling. Stir in the cream, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Ladle into bowl, top with about 1 tablespoon sour cream/crème fraîche, sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper over and serve.

* I used garlic infused olive oil and omitted the garlic cloves

Serves 4