Broccoli Cheese Soup

Good morning, loyal readers! I hope that your week-before-Thanksgiving is treating you well. My week is full of meetings, preparing for my wonderful in-laws to visit us (which means deep cleaning the apartment to trick them into thinking we clean regularly) and trying to recuperate from a cold that's been plaguing me for a week.


Yesterday in Raleigh was cloudy, cold and quintessentially fall. I absolutely adored it! It was the perfect day for snuggling in a warm sweater, watching some movies and eating my favorite cold weather food -- soup!


To commemorate this fantastic weather, I made Broccoli Cheese Soup. This very well may be my favorite soup of all time. It's cheesy, it's delicious, it's healthy-ish and if you're at one of my favorite fast food establishments that shall remain nameless but rhymes with "Pantera Fred", can be eaten in a sourdough bread bowl and who doesn't love that?!


This recipe came from a variety of sources. Partly, it was adapted from the Fix-It and Forget-It Vegetarian cookbook. However, the last time I made it in my Crock Pot the cheese was stringy, gooey and lumpy. Frankly it was an ugly and unappetizing soup and I'm not afraid to admit that I threw it out because it was so unappealing. It was also partially adapted from a recipe by Food Network Kitchens and the rest was pure innovation.


Perfect Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 stick unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
1/3 C flour
2 bags frozen broccoli florets
1 C 2% milk
3 C 1% milk
A LOT OF SALT AND PEPPER
Pinch of nutmeg
3-4 C shredded cheese (I used cheddar, swiss and Queso Quesadilla cheeses)


In a large stockpot or your trusty aqua-blue Martha Stewart dutch oven, melt the entire stick of butter over medium heat. I know this sounds like an exorbitant amount of butter and I'm inclined to agree with you but take solace in the fact that at least it's unsalted and let's face it: you're eating soup comprised primarily of cheese. Are calories really a factor here?


Throw in your diced onion once butter is melted and cook for 3-4 minutes or until translucent.


Add in your flour and cook until slightly golden. This shouldn't take longer than a minute.


Pour in your milk. Now, of course you can use 4 C of 2% milk, 2 C 2% milk and 2 C half-and-half, 4 C half-and-half or any mixture of milk you like, really. It's your soup. The mixture I came up with just happened to be what I had in my fridge. Like I said, pure innovation. Stir to combine.


Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. I probably used at least 1 Tbsp salt and probably double the pepper. It's always difficult to season soups in the early stages so just start out small and remember you can always add more at the end. Nothing ruins a soup like over-salting it.


Add in your broccoli florets, cover and simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes. This is where it pays to use frozen broccoli. Now, of course you could use fresh but it will take longer and when it's 7:00 at night, you're cold because you just went running and you're ravenous again, because you just went running the LAST thing you want is your food to take even longer than a measly 20 minutes.


Now to add in the glorious cheese. You can really get creative here and make different flavor profiles. A good rich Jarlsburg, a smoky gouda, a hearty Havarti or the classic: extra sharp cheddar. All would taste fantastic because cheese is the universe's gift to mankind. Add the cheese in batches to melt and mix in.


After the cheese is melted check for seasoning and enjoy! I prefer to have a little bit of texture in my soup so I served as-is but I'm sure it would be just as good slightly blended and broken down.


This soup was filling and frankly phenomenal. The flavor was on point, the consistency was the oh-so-excellent thick enough to coat your spoon but not so thick you couldn't slurp it.


I hope you enjoyed this recipe and check back for more to come! I have some exciting things on my menu for the next few weeks like roasted red pepper pasta, chicken tortilla soup and even a few fun restaurant reviews queued up!