Lucky for me the weather is finally turning. That means it is time to use up the spring vegetables before they all flower and go to seed. I harvested all of the broccoli because it was threatening to do just that. With so much broccoli florets and stalks on hand I thought that broccoli cheese soup would offer a good solution.
Who doesn’t love a quick, warm, creamy soup…wait did I forget to say cheesy? I love all of these qualities in a good soup. I do also love a low fat, low calorie soup, but this one is not going to be it. Usually I use semi-skimmed, but my soup is never creamy or smooth enough. So this time I used heavy whole milk.
Ingredients:
200 ml whole milk
200 ml chicken stock
4 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
10 oz (280 g) broccoli, florets and stems
150 g cheddar cheese, shredded
1 Tbsp kosher salt or Maldon sea salt
1/2 Tbsp freshly cracked black pepper
dash of cayenne, optional
Method:
Cut broccoli into bite sized chunks. Dice onion and mince garlic. Heat a large skillet to medium heat and melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add broccoli and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes. Set aside. Add 3 tablespoon of butter to a stock pot (I used a 3 quart), melt and add flour. Combine butter and flour into a smooth paste (roux) and cook for 2 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Whisk in broth and cream and bring just to a boil, reduce heat to medium and add sautéed vegetables. Simmer for 5-10 minutes avoiding a full boil. Stir in cheese with a whisk until mixture is smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
Top with croutons or serve with garlic toast.
A note: this soup is best served right when it is made. It has a tendancy to thicken up a lot in the refrigerator. Should you need to refrigerate it you can use some milk to thin it out when reheating.
Enjoy!
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