Cream of Spinach Soup

In a saucepan, melt the unsalted butter over medium heat. Peel and cut onion into small dices and add to the melted butter.
Sautee about 5 minutes or until translucent.

Add flour and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Pour in stock, whisking to combine well and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes, continue whisking.

In a large pot, bring water to a boil. While waiting to boil, wash clean the spinach and trim tough ends, and prepare ice-water bath in a different pot.

Salt the boiling water and submerge all the spinach. Blanch for 30 seconds, until they wilted and bright green, then remove them with slotted spoon and quickly plunge into the ice-water bath, stirring to cool more quickly. Remove the excess liquid by squeezing the spinach with your hands.

Working in batches, transfer the sauce base and blanched spinach to a food processor or blender, and puree them until smooth.
If needed, pass soup through a fine sieve, pressing on solids with spatula to extract more liquid into a pot.
Over low heat, whisk in the cream.

In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cut the bread into cubes and cook until crisp and golden brown.
Serve the soup along with the croutons.