Mark Hix recipe: Potato and chive soup with smoked salmon

Serves 4-6

Potato and chive soup with smoked salmon (Jason Lowe)

This is a good way to use up salmon trimmings left over from another dish. But it works equally well without.

1 onion, peeled, halved and finely chopped
1tbsp vegetable or corn oil
1.2ltrs chicken or vegetable stock
500g large new potatoes, peeled and sliced, plus a couple of whole ones just peeled then boiled
½tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2tbsp chopped chives
A couple of slices of smoked salmon (optional), diced

Gently cook the onion in the oil for about 2-3 minutes until soft, then add the stock and sliced potatoes; season and simmer for about 10 minutes until the potatoes are just falling apart. Blend the soup in a liquidiser until smooth, then chill as per the other soups.

Cut the cooked whole potatoes into rough 1cm dice and mix with some of the chives and olive oil and season. Mix the rest of the chives with the soup and re-season.

If the soup is too thick, add some more stock or milk. Pour the soup into chilled serving bowls, spoon the diced potatoes in the centre and scatter the salmon around, if using.