The most delicious soup ever. We’re coming into winter now, and this is the sort of food you crave – thick, salty warm soup that you can eat while curled up under a blanket on the couch watching whatever TV shows are left after the writer’s strike.

Ingredients

1 tbs olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced
5 rashers bacon, rind and fat trimmed
500g yellow flesh potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 cobs of sweet corn
1 x 125g can creamed corn
4 cups milk (can use low fat if preferred)
1 cup chicken stock
4 tbs Mersey Valley cheese or 8 tbs grated tasty cheese (optional)

Put the sweet corn in a microwaveable container, cover and microwave for about 4 minutes, or just use the vegetable setting on your microwave. Set aside to cool, then cut the corn from the cobs and discard the cobs.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the bacon and fry until just getting crispy. Add the onion and leek and saute until the onion and leek are soft. Add the potato and corn and mix. Add the chicken stock, creamed corn and milk. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for 20mins.

Use a potato masher to mash the potato in the soup.

If you like, you can add 1tbs of crumbled Mersey Valley cheese or 2tbs of grated tasty cheese to each bowl before serving. Stir well.

Tips:

• Do all of the chopping in advance and put the chopped ingredients into separate small bowls. It will make it faster and easier to cook and there will be less risk of burning the soup.
• Soup like this is great for making in huge batches and freezing for a quick meal later.