Delicious broccoli soup

I love making soup and this broccoli concoction is in my opinion the best one I have come up with so far.  I've never been one for using measurements (a skill/quirk I picked up from my Nanna) so the quantities are approximations.

Ingredients

Salted butter

1 onion – finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic – crushed

A couple of sticks celery - chopped

A large carrot – diced

1 medium sized potato – diced

Broccoli – broken into large segments

A few fresh tomatoes – I prefer a mix of a few baby plum and a couple of medium vine ripened

A squeeze of tomato puree

1 litre vegetable stock

Mature cheddar – grated (as much or as little as you like)

Crème fraiche

Sage – a little bit

Cayenne pepper – a tiny bit

Salt – to taste

Black pepper – to taste

Method

• Melt the butter in a large pan, add onion and garlic and soften on a medium heat
• Add carrot and celery, cover pan and sweat off on a low heat for 10minutes
• Remove lid and add broccoli, tomatoes and potato and pour over stock
• Add the tomato puree and other seasoning and stir in
• Bring to the boil then reduce the heat, replace lid and simmer until the vegetables are softened and cooked through.
• Remove from heat and leave to cool for 10 mins
• Using a potato masher, break up the mixture until there are few lumps
• Blend the mixture
• Add the grated cheese, stir in then blend again
• Add crème fraiche to taste and blend for a third time.
• Serve with crusty bread or as it is.