Broccoli Cheese Soup
A tasty and inexpensive way to use up broccoli stalks/stems and dried out assorted cheese bits. Can be vegetarian if you use vegetable stock.
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1-2 tablespoon butter (or more oil)
- 1 cup peeled, diced onions
- 250-350 grams broccoli, can be all stems, peeled if necessary* (1/2 to 3/4 lb, roughly chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper (we used white but more black is fine)
- 1-3 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 250 milliliters milk (about 1 c, we used 1% dairy but you can use whatever milk you prefer)
- 3-4 cups stock (we used chicken but you can use vegetable)
- 75-100 grams mixed cheese scraps, grated or chopped in small chunks (2 1/2-3 1/2 oz, we used a mix of cheddar, jalapeño jack, blue benedictine & double gloucester with chive and onion)
- 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg (optional)
- chopped parsley, drizzle of olive oil or cream, squeeze of lemon juice (optional finishing touches)
Put the olive oil and butter in a pot that will hold at least 1.5L/6c over medium low heat. Add the onions and sauté them until they soften, are lightly golden and turn translucent. Add the chopped (and peeled*) broccoli, garlic, salt and black pepper. Mix so everything is coated in the oil. Let it all heat and soften together for 3-5 minutes, making sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.
Sprinkle the white pepper and the flour over everything else in the pot and stir. You want to toast the flour but not burn it. Add the milk and use a spoon or a spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan. The fat and flour (the 'roux') will begin to thicken the milk and will continue to do so when the temperature is higher. Add the stock. You want to cook the soup until the broccoli looks cooked and the roux has fully thickened the soup - maybe 10 minutes, with the lid on.
Add the (optional) nutmeg and cheese bits and stir until the cheese melts. Blend everything together - a stick blender is easiest but if you don't have one you can carefully transfer the soup (probably in batches) into a regular blender and whiz it until it's a texture you like. You can serve the soup with any of the optional finishing ingredients.
*watch the video if you don't know how to peel a broccoli stalk/stem.
