Herb & Spice Cookery- Potato Chervil Soup

What to post, what to post. My husband just reminded me I have five boxes of cookbooks purchased in the last month that I have not blogged about. Well I told him I could blog eight hours a day and not get to them all :).
One of the books he has be bugging me about is Herb & Spice Cookery by Monica Mawson. This is a British book. He wants me to look at it so he can put it on eBay when I am finished with it, so here goes.
I had to look up chervil. It is a relative to parsley that adds a faint herbal-anise flavor to food.

Potato Chervil Soup

"A particularly delicious soup to serve as a supper dish or as a "warmer-upper" after an evening's outing. The time and trouble can be cut considerably by using an instant potato powder, in place of the raw potato. For this method, increase the stock to 5 cups and simmer for 10-15 minutes only, then sprinkle the contents of a large ( 5-oz.) packet of instant potato on the boiling liquid and stir thoroughly. Finish off as below. The chervil must not be cooked or it will lose much of its flavor, so add it only after the soup has been removed from the heat."

1 lb. potatoes, after peeling
1 small onion, peeled
2 tablespoon butter
3 3/4 cups white stock
1 small bay leaf
1/8 teaspoon ground mace
2/3 cup coffee cream or milk
Salt, pepper to taste
6-7 tablespoons chopped chervil
Slice the potato and onion,. Melt the butter and sweat the vegetables gently with the pan covered, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes. Pour in the stock. Add the bay leaf and mace and simmer, covered, for 45-50 minutes.
Remove the bay leaf and put the soup through a liquidizer. Stir in the cream or milk and season to taste with salt and pepper. Reheat, then remove from the heat and stir in the chervil. Serve with fried croutons, if liked. Serves 4-5.