Broccoli and Parmesan Soup

The Accidental Locavore saw this recipe on Food 52 recently and happened to have a nice bunch of broccoli on hand so this became lunch. You need a little over an hour to make this but most of it is for cooking the broccoli. Serves 4 to 6

• 2 pounds broccoli, trimmed and cut into florets
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 fat cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• Salt and pepper
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 3/4 cups grated Parmesan
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Croutons (optional) for garnishing

In a covered microwave-safe dish, steam the broccoli in the microwave for 3 minutes.

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil and garlic. After a minute or two, when the garlic starts to soften and turn golden, add the broccoli, season with salt and pepper, and stir well. Cover the pot, turn the heat down as low as it will go, and cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is soft enough that it yields when you press it with the back of a wooden spoon (it may brown a little during this process — this is a good thing).

Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer the soup for 5 minutes.

Carefully puree half the soup in a blender or food processor. Stir the puree back into the pot. Stir in the Parmesan and lemon juice to taste. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve and enjoy!

My verdict: Delicious! Everyone really liked this soup. It was a nice change from the usual thick, gloppy broccoli and cheese soup. Fresh and light tasting. My only regret with it was that I didn’t have much broccoli (and we were in the middle of yet another blizzard) so only made half the recipe, which was gone in a heartbeat. Maybe because I wasn’t cooking so much broccoli, mine was nice and soft in 30 minutes. If you want a vegetarian version, just use vegetable broth in place of the chicken stock. This would probably work with zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli rabe, etc. I did pop a few croutons in which gave it a nice crunch. Toasted pine nuts would also be a nice garnish. I’ve already gone out and gotten more broccoli to make another batch!