garden to table: cream of broccoli soup (with recipe)
cream of broccoli soup
(adapted from moosewood cookbook)
in a soup pot or dutch oven, melt 2 Tbs butter. add 1/2 cups chopped leeks (or onions), 1 bay leaf, and 1 tsp salt. saute over medium heat until leeks (or onions) are translucent.
add 1 cup chopped bell pepper, 4 cups chopped broccoli, and 2 1/2 cups water. cover and cook at medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until broccoli gets tender and turns a beautiful, bright green. remove the bay leaf.
at this point, you need to puree the soup with about 2 cups of cream (or, if you prefer, milk). remove about 1/4 of the soup and put it into a blender. add about a 1/2 cup of cream. puree for a few seconds. do this with all of the soup and all of the cream.
whisk in a 1/2 cup of sour cream (or plain yoghurt), 1/4 tsp of crushed allspce, a dash of fresh pepper, and a dash of thyme. heat gently. serve hot.