Makes: Serves 6 to 8
If any of you haven't discovered America's Test Kitchen on PBS, you need to IMMEDIATELY. It is an amazing show. Plus it feeds my Food Network addiction since we got rid of cable. America's Test Kitchen reinvents recipes by testing every possible way of making it, resulting in the perfect recipe. And every recipe we've tried is, in fact, perfect. Plus you learn technique, tips, tools, etc. It's far more informative than any show on Food Network... Shhhh.... Don't tell Food Network I said that. I still love them.
This recipe is not your standard broccoli cheese soup. As America's Test Kitchen says, they made the broccoli the star, not the cheese (of course, you can always slip in more cheese if you need your cheese fix...). We also found it was pretty forgiving. We used what we had on hand and didn't buy anything special, like salted butter and regular chicken stock. It may have been a bit on the salty side without the low sodium ingredients but Nando is a salt freak so it worked.
And a bonus for this recipe? It's healthy and low calorie! I think I'm the only one of us who's counting calories (the joys of sharing a blog with 3 awesomely skinny sisters) but we actually added extra spinach for good measure and it was still delicious.
And finally, you can freeze it for later. Hurray for frozen soups in the middle of winter!
Here's what America's Test Kitchen says about this recipe: my additional comments are in GREEN
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: We were after a soup with pure broccoli flavor that wasn’t hiding behind the cream or the cheese. Overcooked broccoli has a sulfurous flavor, but we discovered when we cooked our broccoli beyond the point of just overcooked—for a full hour—those sulfur-containing compounds broke down, leaving behind intense, nutty broccoli. Its texture was fairly soft, but that was perfect for use in a soup. Adding baking soda to the pot sped up the process, shortening the broccoli’s cooking time to a mere 20 minutes. A little spinach lent bright green color to the soup without taking over the flavor. After adding cheddar and Parmesan, we had a soup so full of flavor and richness that it didn’t even need the cream.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter - we used salted but didn't add any salt
- 2 pounds broccoli, florets roughly chopped into 1-inch pieces, stems trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
- 1 medium onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustardpowder
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- Table salt
- 3–4 cups water
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth - we used regular salt and again didn't add salt
- 2 ounces baby spinach (2 loosely packed cups)
- 3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (3/4 cup)
- 1 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated fine (about 3/4 cup), plus extra for serving - we used our obsession - pecorino romano from Costco. yum!
- Ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Heat butter in large Dutch oven (or regular soup pot. we're not fancy) over medium-high heat. When foaming subsides, add broccoli, onion, garlic, dry mustard, cayenne, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 6 minutes. Add 1 cup water and baking soda. Bring to simmer, cover, and cook until broccoli is very soft, about 20 minutes, stirring once during cooking.2. Add broth and 2 cups water and increase heat to medium-high. When mixture begins to simmer, stir in spinach and cook until wilted, about 1 minute. Transfer half of soup to blender, add cheddar and Parmesan, and process until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer soup to medium bowl and repeat with remaining soup. Return soup to Dutch oven, place over medium heat and bring to simmer. Adjust consistency of soup with up to 1 cup water (depending on how you like it. We didn't. We like it thick). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve, passing extra Parmesan separately.
Source: http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/detail.php?docid=27401
