CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP

Addictive broccoli soup

This rich soup is a real flavor treat for everyone, even for people who don't normally eat broccoli. It can be served as the only course in a light meal. The soup is at its best when served with hot, hard French finger rolls and freshly squeezed cool orange juice. It is my own original recipe. You will not have tried it anywhere else except at my house. Enjoy.

Ingredients

(serves 4-6)

2 bunches, fresh broccoli (each about 75 mm bottom diameter, banded)
240 g butter
2-6 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped fine. (Use less or more to taste.)
30 ml chervil (fresh or dried, finely chopped)
5 ml salt
5 ml white pepper
750 ml milk (use full-cream milk (homogenized))
1 medium egg yolk, beaten
25 g flour (no lumps)
0.5 ml cardamom
0.5 ml mace
250 ml heavy cream ("whipping" cream preferred)
50 g Gruyere cheese (fresh, grated fine)
60 g parmesan cheese (fresh, grated to powder)

Procedure

Cut broccoli into bite-size pieces. Discard the hard stem pieces, but keep tender leaves and stem parts.
Steam the cut broccoli for about 5-8 minutes, until just bright green in color. Do not overcook.
In a 25-cm enameled (non-metal) skillet, heat 180 g of butter until melted. Add chopped garlic and wait until butter is hot enough to cook in. Add steamed broccoli, then chervil to the skillet. Lightly salt the broccoli.
Cover, and cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for another 5-10 minutes or until the broccoli turns a darker green color and becomes very soft.
Mash the broccoli right in the skillet until no large pieces remain. Use a potato masher or a strong wooden spoon. Mash until there are no pieces remaining that are too big to fit in a soup spoon.
While broccoli is cooking, add beaten egg yolk to 500 ml of milk.
Put 50 g butter into a 2-3 liter saucepan. Use enamel or glass for best soup flavor. Metal pans will make this soup bitter. Melt butter and add flour. When the flour bubbles and starts to cook, add the egg/milk mixture into the saucepan. Add the cardamom, mace, and white pepper. Stir contents of saucepan constantly with wooden spoon until thick. Lower the cooking heat.
Empty the mashed broccoli mixture into the saucepan. Stir until well-mixed. Slowly stir in the remaining milk and the cream. As soon as the soup becomes hot enough to cook again, add the grated cheeses.
Turn the heat down lower and simmer for about 5 more minutes, stirring to allow the cheeses to melt and mix while the table is being set. Serve immediately and retire quickly so as not to be trampled by those who smelled it cooking.

Notes

This recipe may be doubled, halved or whatever without penalty. Vary the amount of milk added the second time to change the soup thickness to your own tastes. You also may use any fresh green vegetable as a substitute for the broccoli. Asparagus tips, artichoke hearts, and corn are especially nice. Cook them in the same way as you did the broccoli. Use any leftover butter on the hard French finger rolls. Warning: This soup is a mild aphrodisiac when served as suggested and by candlelight. Use Bailey's Irish Cream as a chaser.

Rating

Difficulty: moderate.
Time: 30 minutes.

Contributor

 
George Robertson 
Fort Worth, Texas 
(ihnp4!sys1!sysvis!ger)

Recipe last modified: 15 Apr 86

Original header

Path: decwrl!recipes
From: george@sysvis (George E. Robertson)
Newsgroups: mod.recipes
Subject: RECIPE: Broccoli soup
Message-ID: <3185@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: 23 May 86 03:39:28 GMT
Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
Organization: Tandy Corp., Fort Worth, Texas
Lines: 108
Approved: reid@decwrl.UUCP

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