A gloomy day calls for soup! Today I made my favorite soup of all time, cream of broccoli. Now I know what you’re thinking, this is not an Italian soup! I know I know, but it was too delicious not to share. This hearty soup will make you feel cozy and warm and you will forget it isn’t Italian 🙂 This recipe calls for an immersion blender. This blender is used to blend out all the chunks of broccoli in the soup of course. If you do not have one of these, you can always replace it with a potato masher or a wooden spoon. Let’s get to the recipe…

Ingredients:

 4 large heads of broccoli

2 stalks of celery (with leaves)

1 large onion

1 carton of chicken stock

5-6 cups of water (salted)

2 tbsp. chicken base

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1 cup of flour

1 cup of heavy cream

Pinch of black pepper

1 tbsp. olive oil

Immersion blender

Instructions: 

  • First, chop up all of your vegetables. Keep separate bowls for broccoli florets and chopped up broccoli stalks. (Optional: Save a head of smaller pieces of broccoli florets aside to add in at the end. This is if you want chunks of broccoli in your soup.)
  • In a small oiled frying pan,saute the onions and celery until they become translucent, meaning they will be partly cooked. Add garlic salt and pepper to the pan and stir. 
  • In a large pot, bring water to a boil and add in chopped broccoli stalks and cook until they are soft and tender.(The stalks of the broccoli are tougher and need more cook-time than the florets.)
  • Once the broccoli stalks are soft, add in the sauted onions and celery.
  • In a large glass, mix 1 cup of flour and about 1 cup of chicken stock together until smooth. This is going to thicken the soup, but don’t add it yet! For now just pour the remainder of chicken stock into the pot, followed by 2 tbsp. chicken base. 
  • Now that the vegetables are nice and soft, add in the broccoli florets and let them cook until soft for about 15 minutes. (Continue stirring)
  • Once everything is cooked down, add in your flour and chicken stock mixture, stirring it in constantly to prevent lumps. 
  • Now plug in your immersion blender, keeping it at the bottom of the pot, blend your soup until it is smooth. Once your soup is thoroughly blended, add in the heavy cream and extra broccoli florets, let this cook down for about 10 minutes until the extra florets are soft. 
  • Your soup is finished! Serve and enjoy!