Cheddar, White Onion and Cider velouté with wild garlic tapenade

Ingredients

For the Soup

• 100g of Barber’s Cheddar
• 70 gm unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
• 1 potato (about 150gm), very thinly sliced
• 500 ml vegetable – Marigold
• 400ml of cider
• Tbsp. of double cream

For the Tapenade

• 150g of wild Garlic
• 50g of Barber’s 1833
• 100g of Toasted Hazelnuts
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over low-medium heat until foaming, add onion and cook, covered with a lid and stirring occasionally, until soft and tender but not coloured (20-30 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, combine potato and stock in a saucepan, bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low-medium and simmer until potato is very tender and falling apart (15-20 minutes).
3. Add the cider to the onions and reduce allowing the alcohol to cook out
4. Add onion mixture to potato mixture, add the double cream and grated cheddar (100g), stir until the cheddar is combined, season to taste and blend with a hand-held blender until smooth. Keep warm. Froth soup with a hand-held blender just before serving.
5. Toast the hazelnuts in a hot oven in a knob of butter for 10 mins
6. Next, put 100g of the toasted hazelnuts along with 50g of Barbers 1833 into a food blender along with the wild garlic and whizz. Don’t over blend and you will need to make small quenelles’
7. Now take the remaining butter and add to a heavy-based saucepan and heat until the fats separate and begin to toast – keep warm
8. Under a hot grill make some tasted cheesy croutons
9. To serve, divide the soup into 4 bowls, take the tapenade and make quenelles with two teaspoons and gently place on the surface of the soup, place the croutons, drizzle the toasted butter and dress with wild garlic leaf.