Creamy Spinach and Smoky Pancetta Soup

A simple and delicious soup (if I do say so myself). Dad always has soup for lunch, and a couple of days ago - shock! - we had run out of the usual 'Covent Garden' style stuff. Well, no worries, because it's not too hard to knock up a soup from a reasonably stocked fridge. Ours wasn't bulging, but it did contain some spinach and industrial quantites of smoked pancetta. Bingo.

Your basic soup method is pretty consistent. Cook all the meat/vegetables, involved, add some sort of liquid, usually stock and perhaps some cream or creme fraiche, simmer, liquidise, and (if necessary) strain. Exceptions are things like broths and chowders, which need a very good quality stock and are not liquidised. But for the minute our focus is on the classic 'vegetable soup with some sneaky meat involved'. This, incidentally, is not what the French call it.

Without too much fuss, then, we'll get on to recipes. The only other thing to bear in mind is that in this recipe the bulk of the spinach - which is to say the stringy bits - is sieved out before the end, so there will be less soup than you'd think.

Ingredients
(for 2)

Knob of butter
50g smoked pancetta (or use smoked streaky bacon)
Large bunch fresh spinach (one supermarket bag, or equivalent. Use frozen if you need to, but please defrost and thoroughly drain first, and bear in mind cooking time will be reduced)
Glass of white wine
200ml chicken stock, or more if necessary
50-100ml of cream or creme fraiche, depending on your calorie wants!
Salt, pepper
Generous grating of nutmeg


Method

Simple. Melt your butter in a medium pan and cook the pancetta until golden brown/crispy. Add the spinach and the white wine, and cook until the spinach has wilted. Add the warm stock.

Liquidise by whatever means available and strain thoroughly (you have to be tough with it. Knock it about a bit with a spoon).

Return to the pan and stir in the cream or creme fraiche. Season to your taste. Incidentally, nutmeg is always a winner with spinach - if you're serving it as a vegetable side dish, a grating of nutmeg on top brings out a whole new range of flavours.

This is a lovely soup, almost game-y in its combination of earthy spinach and smokey pancetta. Even if you're not the biggest spinach fan, I do urge you to give this a try.