Thursday, January 28, 2010

Cream of Broccoli Soup (with Cheese!)

Woke up to some surprise snow this morning. After all the nice, warm for winter weather we've been having, tonight it was time for soup. A nice, thick and rich soup. Cream of Broccoli fit the bill. You don't have use cream, you can use half and half or milk or omit it altogether. You can leave out the cheese or use low fat cheddar or any kind of cheddar you want. Anything works. I like soups that can adapt to my screw-ups! Cauliflower is great with this recipe instead of broccoli, potatoes, too! I found all this out trying to find a good recipe online. Searched and found all kinds of things. So I started with a basic recipe from Martha Stewart and just changed it to fit what I needed.

This just might get your kids to eat their broccoli!



Cream of Broccoli Soup (with Cheese!)
Source: adapted from a recipe by Martha Stewart
Printable Recipe

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken stock, plus more as needed
1 large head broccoli (about 1 3/4 pounds), trimmed and cut into florets; peel and cut stems into pieces or you can just buy a bag of florets
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
big pinch fresh ground nutmeg
pinch or more of cayenne pepper
1 1/4 cups of grated cheddar cheese, save 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top of soup in the bowl
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
croutons, for garnish (optional)

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for another minute (the flour should not take on any color).

Pour in chicken stock, whisking until fully incorporated, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, continue whisking, until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Add the broccoli and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and cayenne. Return to a boil, stirring to combine. Reduce heat and simmer until broccoli is tender about 10 to 20 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer the broccoli mixture to a blender, a food processor, or an immersion blender, whiz it less if you like bigger pieces of broccoli. Be careful, it will be very hot.

Set the pot of soup over low heat and whisk in cream, if using. If it's too thick, then you can thin it with a little more stock or water. Stir in some grated cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper, if needed and sprinkle more cheddar on top. Serve immediately. Garnish with croutons!

17 comments:

  1. Cream of Broccoli - Yummy!

    We had snow today, too. Crazy weather, it also thundered.

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  2. This non broc eater would eat that, it looks delicious!!!
    And man is it cold, and the wind is HOWLING!!

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  3. What a tasty looking bowl of soup ... I like broccoli cheese soup, not so much the cream variety. Your recipe sounds very adaptable and good basic recipe. ... What cute grated cheese curls on the soup!

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  4. One of my favs...you are really impressing me Betty!!

    Looks fantastic!!

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  5. oh, Yum! This sounds wonderful. I wonder...
    could you "Julia" it up and add a little white wine... or beer... or just drink the wine/beer and eat the soup.

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  6. Cream of Broccoli soup is divine-You are right, perfect for a snowy day.

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  7. Carol, you're not going to believe this, but I dreamt about broccoli soup a few nights ago.
    Does that make me weird?
    I hope so.

    Anyway, I love the colors incorporated into your soup, with its crowning, broccoli floret.

    I crave this creamy soup year-round, and this weekend is as good as any to whip some up.


    Keep warm buddy!

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  8. This looks like a wonderful soup, cheese and brocolli is such a good combination!

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  9. You do realize your bowl of soup looks 100 times better than Ms Martha's? LOL I usually make Marilyn's version, but yours (it's not Martha's anymore) is next!

    Enjoy the snow!

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  10. I love everything about this recipe. Thank you for bring it to our attention.

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  11. Great soup recipe! And yes to cream and cheese!
    Tried cauliflower soup- it was good, but I really like the broccoli color better.

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  12. Cream and cheese is just perfect for this recipe. We have tried cream of potato and it was a hit!

    P.S. I got my laptop back and everything is in tact, plus my saved files on my external drive. I also save my blog once a week, just in case, too.

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  13. I missed this one! John loves cream of broccoli soup and I think he's like an extra pinch of cayenne :) Sounds warm and delicious!

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  14. Even though there's no snow on the ground here in So Cal ... this bowl of soup looks yummy to me! Perhaps I should stop and make some lunch.
    Hugs and blessings,

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  15. You should know that this site is using your image, possibly without your permission. They appropriated one of mine as well (and have since taken it down). Since they derive revenue from ads on their site, I thought you should know that someone is making money on your work.

    http://www.happyhappyjoyjoy.net/2010/01/cream-of-broccoli-soup-with-cheese-theres-always-thyme-to-cook/

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  16. Thanks for the heads up about that link to my blog! Appreciate it :)

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  17. Hey, just made this and posted my (boyfriend's) adaptation on my blog. So good!

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Thank you for taking the time to comment. They are fun to read and very much appreciated! Sorry for comment moderation, the spam has been overwhelming lately.

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