Somehow, I had missed this recipe entirely. Color me surprised when I was flipping through my collection of magazines, looking for a dinner idea, and this showed up.
I absolutely adore Broccoli Cheese soup but I am very picky about it. It has to have just the right balance of creamyness, cheesyness and broccoli.
I won't lie, I looked at the recipe with skepticism. While I have faith in FNM, I also know how many times I've tried to recreate it with little success.
That said, last night I decided to take on the challenge. Below is the recipe, some photographs and my review:
As with most creamy soups, we start with a roux. This allows the soup to get thick and creamy.
I started by melting 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a large pot, over medium heat. Make sure it is unsalted, the cheese adds plenty of salt on it's own!
While the butter is melting, chop up 1 small onion. Once the butter has melted, add your onions to the butter and let them cook until tender, approximately 5 minutes.
Once the onions have a glassy look to them, you want to take 1/4 cup of flour and whisk it into the buttery onion mix. It is going to clump a little but don't worry, we'll fix that in a minute.
After the roux turns a golden color, it's time to add your half&half.
*Note: I only had 1 cup of half and half, so I had to use skim milk for the remainder. The consistency came out fine, so if you want a slightly less fattening option, you can substitute the half&half for low fat milk and it should be fine.
I whisked two cups of dairy(1cup half&half, 1cup Skim Milk) into the roux, slowly. Continue to whisk until the roux dissolves in the dairy and becomes smooth. This is the base of your soup, so make sure there are no lumps!
Next, take 3cups of low sodium chicken broth and pour it in.
Time to add the spices! Throw 2 bay leaves and 1/4tsp nutmeg in. Salt and pepper to taste. Remember the cheese will have a lot of salt in it. You can always add more, but you can't take away.
Allow everything to come to a simmer. Now, turn down the heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for about 20 minutes or until thickened.
While your soup is thickening, let's get to chopping those vegetables!
You will need 4 cups of broccoli florets(roughly 1 head) and 1 large carrot. Dice the carrot up. All of this will be blended later, so don't worry about it being perfectly sized.
Aren't the colors lovely? I adore fresh produce.
Add your broccoli and carrots into the pot. Continue simmering for another 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are nice and tender.
Now, remove those bay leaves and let's pour the soup into a blender. You will want to have some sort of towel on hand so the steam can get out, but that will block any splatter. I used the pulse option on my blender and it helped me to control how finely chopped I wanted my vegetables. I like my soup to be a bit chunkier than it ended up, but I know for next time.
Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for. Cheese!
The recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups(apprx 8oz) of mixed, sharp white and yellow cheddar.
*Note: I did not notice the white part until after I was already cooking, so my soup only uses yellow. Because of this, I think the taste was a little off(not bad, mind you). So if you want to try for a perfect replication, remember the white cheddar! I'll be remaking this soon, to see what sort of difference it makes.
Take the cheese and your whisk and start adding it to your soup base. Add it bits at a time, so it can fully melt. Whisking helps to distribute it evenly. Save a little cheese for garnish.
And serve! The recipe suggests using Sourdough Bread Boules(bowls) to serve it in. I do suggest having some sort of crusty bread to go along with it, since this is such a creamy soup. The texture will add a lot to the overall enjoyment.
My final review? It was wonderful! A very simple soup, but very "fresh" tasting. I went to the gym shortly after eating this and it really gave me a boost of energy and made me feel wonderful.
The taste was not exact, but I suspect the lack of white cheddar was a big contributing factor. Also, the lack of preservatives may have also contributed(but is that really such a bad idea?)
I'm giving this recipe 4 out of 5 stars.
I hope you enjoyed the recipe and I'd love to hear stories or alterations anyone does!
Tonight we are heading out to Benihana Hibachi for an early V-Day date. Expect photos later tonight, along with potential, secret planning for our hopefully romantic V-Day dinner on Monday :3
