cream of broccoli soup

I was talking to Cait over GoogleChat the other day and she was scarfing down some cream of broccoli soup, a dish I adore. She rubbed it in a little bit that she had some and I didn’t. So I figured I’d blend myself up a batch. And I thought that you could, too, if you wanted to.

Start with some onions. Dice them up pretty finely.

Chuck them in a large pot with some garlic and a bit of olive oil and butter. Let that cook on medium-high heat until the onions are translucent.

While that’s going on, you can start on your broccoli. I used three heads of broccoli, chopped up, including the stems. Use a vegetable peeler to get rid of the tough skin.

Then I also sliced up about two stalks of celery.

And cubed up several small potatoes. I leave the skins on for texture and vitamins but that’s up to you if you want to remove them.

Those go in the pot too, as well as about 4 cups chicken broth (you can use vegetable broth if you are feeling vegetarian).

Cover that and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes, until everything, including the potatoes, is tender and squishable.

Then remove it from the heat and use an immersion blender or a food processor to blend the soup to your ideal of smoothness. I like mine a little chunky.

Then you can add in your flavourings. The first is obviously some form of cream or milk. You can use sour cream or yogurt or coconut milk or soy milk or whatever you like. I’m going to go traditional here and use some heavy cream. We keep it in a small Nalgene bottle because then we can see how much we have left and we don’t have to deal with the cream crusties on the mouth of the carton.

Dijon mustard is also a popular addition to this soup. The Pie hates mustard but as long as I use it in moderation in things he doesn’t mind. It definitely adds to the taste.

And finally, you are going to need a shot or two of Worcestershire sauce. That goes without saying.

So add in whatever you like. Feel free to adjust to your personal taste.

Give it a stir so it’s all nicely mixed in.

And serve. With crusty bread on the side and chives to top, or, if you are a real cream of broccoli fan, more grated cheddar cheese than is really sane.