Broccoli and Potato Soup
Still had that head of broccoli in my fridge that my father-in-law gave me a week and half ago from his trip to the farmers market. Figured I should finally do something with it. Credit for this recipe goes to all the random websites I visited to get some ideas, most of all to My Husband Hates Veggies’s Zuppa di Broccoletti.
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Broccoli and Potato Soup
1 small onion, diced
Minced garlic, to taste
1 medium-small head of broccoli, cut into florets
1 large potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
4 cups of chicken broth
Dried rosemary, about 1/2 tbs.
Salt, pepper
1/4 cup whole milk or cream [or more, if you want a creamier, less thick soup]
1. Sweat the onion and garlic over medium-low heat while you cube the potato and cut the broccoli into florets. I used the stalk, too, after peeling off the outside
2. Put the potato and broccoli into the pot, salt and pepper it, and give it a few minutes while you go grab the chicken stock.
3. Before you pour in the chicken stock, crush the dried rosemary into the pot. Pour in the chicken stock. The rosemary kind of steeps in the hot broth and flavors it as the whole thing cooks.
4. Put the heat on medium-high, let it simmer-boil for about 15 or 20 minutes
5. Puree the stuff in a blender until smooth
6. Pour it back into the pot, stir in the milk, check seasonings.
7. Serve with jalapeno corn bread. Eat.
So….about the potato…
Right, so, what had happened was…I just started with a head of broccoli, cooked it, pureed it, poured it back into the pot. Unsatisfactory. I had put too much liquid for the small head of broccoli, so the soup was too liquidy for my taste. Also, it was too strongly flavored [I cheated and used bullion cubes to make the broth, so it must have been too strong, or I put too much garlic in - I don't know what happened]. Panic.
I frantically boiled a potato, pureed it with a cup of the soup [yes, that's how liquidy the soup was] and poured the potato puree into the pot of broccoli soup. Much better. Crisis averted. [return to your posts, citizens!] The potato thickened the liquidy broccoli and mellowed out the flavor a little. It was thick enough that I could add some milk like I originally wanted, but couldn’t have if the soup had remained liquidy.
Lesson - if the head of broccoli is small, use less liquid - or anticipate this crisis and go ahead and put a potato in with the broccoli.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
i made a broccoli potato soup last week too! i used frozen broccoli, steamed it and chopped it and set it aside. softened onion and garlic in a pot, added diced potato and cooked a bit, then tossed in some of the broccoli water (wanted to use broth but i froze my chx broth in 2-cup portions and it would have been too much). cooked till potatoes were soft, used the stick blender to mash it all up, then added milk and broccoli, cooked it for a bit then added CHEESE!!!!! because i can’t have a broccoli soup without cheese. i’m like that. when i served it i added a little heavy cream to the bowls, because, i mean, i had some heavy cream in the fridge yo. i don’t think i cook as healthy as you. oh well.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
The cheese sounds *great,* Ayesha and the heavy cream sounds luscious! Would’ve definitely added some cheese, but didn’t have any:). I’m happy to know that you can make it with frozen broccoli too. I’ve got some frozen cauliflower…so maybe that might turn into a soup, because I generally do not like cauliflower.