Broccoli Soup

So I bought a leeeetle bit too much fresh kosher broccoli and what’s a woman to do? It’s not inexpensive stuff and you don’t want to waste it.

I made broccoli salad and while I love it, you cannot just keep making the same thing over and over. I didn’t want people to go on strike 🙂 . So I decided to make a nice creamy but non dairy soup out of the extra. Since you don’t want it to be too thin, you need to use some potato- which I prefer to adding a ton of flour for thickening.
To add flavor, I like sautéed onions, and regular onions (gives you different flavors to have both sauteed onion and not) and a little garlic and what the heck, I threw in two carrots as well. Celery would go nicely as well but I didn’t have it available.
Even with the added veggies, the main character is still the broccoli.

I have a terrific little microwave steamer which I found in a Target for peanuts and it works beautifully. Since I don’t want to cook the broccoli to death and lose its gorgeous color, I steam it for 5 minutes beforehand and only add it for the last 10-15 minutes of cooking once the other root veggies have cooked properly.

Once they are cooked well (check with toothpick – it should go through pretty easily) and it reaches that state, add the broccoli.

Add additional water to cover. Sprinkle with pareve chicken soup powder (you are using this as a spice) and salt and the other spices. Cook till broccoli is truly tender.

Take a stick blender and blend till smooth.

Note the gorgeous green color. The consistency is medium thick. If you wish it to be thicker, you can add another potato or two at the beginning of the soup making process but this is just right. Not too thin, not too heavy.

Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings so it is as divine tasting as it looks. This reheats well since there is no flour or milk/milk substitute in it. I tested this on my son and two of his friends who were hanging out at the house and got a big thumbs up. So, we were good to go!

A note about fresh broccoli.

Most of the time, as painful as it may be, you cannot use the stalks. I know you can peel them etc. etc. but they are tough and if you cook the broccoli sufficiently for them to be soft, you have overcooked the tops. So, I cut the flowerets off and sometimes have to even cut more if I see that they have not properly cooked through. It is what it is.

Fresh Broccoli Soup

2 large heads of broccoli, approximately 1.5 pounds of flowerets, cleaned – you can use frozen, it’s not the same flavor however, don’t precook them and just add them at the end

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

one large onion, peeled and chopped

3-4 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 large or 3 medium carrots, peeled and chunked

2 teaspoons chopped or crushed garlic

Water to cover

2-3 heaping tablespoons instant powdered chicken soup mix, pareve

1-2 tablespoons salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 generous shakes granulated garlic powder

Directions:

Steam broccoli in microwave (or stovetop) for 5 minutes. Set aside. Take a nice big pot to hold all ingredients. Put in 3 tablespoons of oil. Heat, add half of chopped onion and cook till medium yellow, do not allow to get dark brown or it will get a bitter flavor. Then, add rest of onion, carrot, garlic and potatoes. Add tablespoon of the salt, 2 tablespoons of the soup mix (you will taste and see if you need to add more at the end of the cooking), nutmeg and garlic powder. You are doubling the garlic flavor since I prefer not to brown garlic in oil when it’s crushed since it so easily acquires a bitter taste. Cover with water till an inch or two to cover all the veggies.

Bring it all to the boil except the broccoli and simmer on medium flame till tender, approximately 30-45 minutes. Check tenderness with a toothpick or skewer. Add the broccoli and add water to cover and cook 10-15 minutes or till just tender. Taste to see if the broth is flavorful or needs more spicing.

If you left too much stalk on the broccoli and it’s not tender, it’s not too late, cut it off the flowerets and scoop it out. Nothing more unappealing than bits of hard stalk in your soup.
If you have a stick blender, this part’s easy peasy. Just put it in and zshuzh till you have a smooth consistency. Taste for seasoning one more time. If you have a blender or food processor and no stick blender, let the soup cool and you will probably have to whirl it in more than one batch. Yes, yes, buy that stick blender, it’s not expensive and really makes your life easier. The texture should be not too thick and not too thin. That’s the correct consistency.

Serve piping hot. If you serve this for a dairy dinner, you can add a dollop of sour or sweet cream and each diner can swirl it in. You can also serve with soy cream if you wish, for non dairy. Personally, I like it as is but on occasion will guild that lily.