Has the weather in your country also abruptly changed? Here in the Netherlands it went from around 20° with a nice little sun to 12° with all grey skies within days. Seems like soup season is upon us!
After making this soup many times I feel like I've found the easiest and most low-waste way to go and want to share my recipe (: No roux, no pounds of butter and no cream needed and it's still so good. This made 5 big bowls and it's really rich so you won't need any sides for a filling meal.
2 heads of Broccoli, stems included.
1 ridiculously sized carrot.
3 yellow onions.
whole garlic bulb.
Sadly I was all out but normally I would add a big bunch of fresh parsley with the stems included or cellery leaves and stems.
boullion cubes, I used chicken.
1 or 2 packets (200/400 grams) of cheddar melting cheese, depending how cheesy you want it. I used about 1 and a half packet. I know it's not worthy enough call cheese, but i've found the melting quality of this monstrosity to be ideal for soup.
spice powders; sweet paprika, smoked paprika, black pepper, msg, cayenne pepper, all added to taste.
bit of oil and butter.
Wash carrots and broccoli very well, peel and roughly chop onions and broccoli stems. Make sure to peel the broccoli stems really well as the outer layer can be quite tough. Roughly chop 2/3 of the carrot. Add all those to a BIG pot with a bit of oil and a about a teaspoon of butter for taste and sauté untill the onions are slightly translucent. Smash and peel garlic and add to the pot together with all the dry spices and sauté for a few more minutes.
While thats doing it's thing in the pot break the broccoli florets up into smaller chunks and save about 1/4 to add later. Add the broccoli to the pot when everything is nice and fragrant, add boullion cube (at this step I would add parsley/cellery stems if I had those) and cover with just enough water to make the broccoli float. Simmer until soft, about 15 minutes.
Grate the rest of the carrot and break the saved broccoli florets up into itty bitty small pieces for fast cooking time.
When the veggies in the pot are fork tender turn off the heat (at this point I would add fresh parsley/cellery leaves) and blitz everything with an immersion blender untill smooth. Discover you picked a pot too small to add the broccoli and grated carrot, so cook those for a few minutes in a separate pot in a hurry. Or do better than me and use a bigger pot so you can cook those in the soup 🙃
Turn of the heat and add the cheese in small batches, stirring between adding to make sure it's all melting and mixing in nicely. Make sure you taste as you go to find the point of cheesyness you like and to taste if you need more spice powders.
Serve in big ass bowls and enjoy, or be extra fancy and garnish with cellery/parsley leaves! (: