Green Cauldron Broccoli Soup Food

VERY GREEN BROCCOLI SOUP

Steps:

• Cut the broccoli florets from the stems. Peel the tough outer skin from the stems and trim off the fibrous ends. Cut the stems lengthwise into slices about 1/2-inch thick and then crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces.
• Heat the olive oil and butter in a soup pot over medium-high heat until hot. Add the garlic and cook until light brown. Add the onion and celery, lower the heat to medium, and season with salt and pepper. Cook the vegetables slowly until tender, about 10 minutes. Regulate the heat so the vegetables cook without taking on color.
• Add the thyme and stir. Add the broccoli stems, stock, and salt and pepper, to taste, and bring to a boil. Cook, uncovered, for about 3 minutes. Add the florets and continue to cook until very tender, about 5 minutes more.
• Puree the soup in a blender in small batches. Add some of the spinach and some of the lemon zest to each batch and then puree it. (The soup can be made to this point, covered, and refrigerated for up to 1 day or frozen for up to 1 month.)
• Return the soup to the pan and reheat over gentle heat. Stir in the cream. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
• Chef's Note: When I plan on finishing a dish with the addition of a dairy product, as I do here with cream, I often add a dairy product early in the cooking, too, as I do with the butter in the initial cooking of the vegetables. It melds the flavors.

BROCCOLI SOUP

Steps:

• In a medium-size saucepan, over medium heat, add the garlic, shallots, leeks, onion and thyme. Sweat in the butter until fragrant.
• Add the broccoli stem slices and saute until softened.
• Pour in the chicken stock and bay leaf and simmer for about 20 minutes.
• In the meantime, blanch the broccoli tips in a pot of boiling water over medium heat until bright green. Remove the tips from the water and "shock" in a bowl of iced water.
• Drain the green tips and puree in a blender. Set aside.
• Puree the soup in a blender and strain through a fine chinoise into a large serving bowl.
• Add the green tip puree and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Serve piping hot.

BEST CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP

Steps:

• Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium sized stock pot, and saute onion and celery until tender. Add broccoli and broth, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.
• In small saucepan, over medium-heat melt 3 tablespoons butter, stir in flour and add milk. Stir until thick and bubbly, and add to soup. Season with pepper and serve.

VERY GREEN BROCCOLI SOUP

Steps:

• Cut the broccoli florets from the stems.
• Peel the tough outer skin from the stems and trim off the fibrous ends.
• Cut the stems lengthwise into slices about 1/2 inch thick and then crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces.
• Heat the olive oil and butter in a soup pot over medium-high heat until hot.
• Add the garlic and cook until light brown.
• Add the onion and celery, lower the heat to medium, and season with salt.
• Cook the vegetables slowly until tender, about 10 minutes.
• Regulate the heat so the vegetables cook without taking on color.
• Add the thyme and stir.
• Add the broccoli stems, stock, and salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil.
• Cook, uncovered, for about 3 minutes.
• Add the florets and continue to cook until very tender, about 7 minutes more.
• Stir in the spinach and lemon zest.
• The spinach will wilt into the soup.
• Puree the soup in a blender in small batches.
• (The soup can be made to this point, covered, and refrigerated for up to 1 day or frozen for up to 1 month.) Return the soup to the pan and reheat over gentle heat.
• Stir in the cream.
• Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
• Ladle into warm bowls and sprinkle a teaspoonful of Gremolata on top of each bowl.
• Pass the remaining Gremolata at the table.
• Variation with Gorgonzola Crostini: Another delicious garnish would be Gorgonzola crostini.
• If you make large ones, soup becomes dinner.
• Cut thin slices from good, crusty bread.
• Butter the slices on both sides and toast in a 375°F oven until brown and crisp on the outside but still soft within, about 12 minutes.
• Mash together equal amounts of Gorgonzola and unsalted butter (or to taste) and spread on the toasts.
• Return to a warm oven just before serving to allow the cheese to soften and warm, but not run.