Fennel and potato soup

Ingredients

Method

1 tablespoon rapeseed or olive oil
knob of butter
1 large sized onion, chopped.
1 stalk celery chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
3 fennel bulbs trimmed and chopped
600g floury potatoes roughly chopped (such as Maris Piper, King Edward or
Desiree)
800ml chicken stock (or vegetable stock if preferred)
100ml cream (optional)
salt & ground black pepper to season

Place the onion, garlic, celery and fennel in a saucepan with the oil and butter then cover and sweat for 15 minutes, with occasional stirring, until soft. Add the potatoes and stock and bring to the boil then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender then puree the soup in a blender. Add a little more stock if soup is too thick. Then stir in the cream if you are using it and season to taste. Soup may be garnished with finely chopped fennel fronds