Broccoli Cheese Soup

Picture this: a blender spewing broccoli cheese soup all over the walls, clean kitchen utensils, bananas, and me.  And it was also dripping all down the blender and onto the counter.  This is what Derrick walked into the kitchen to find last Sunday evening.  Needless to say I was slightly frustrated and snappy.  If I was Derrick I would have turned around and walked straight out of our kitchen.  What did he do?  He basically took over.  He cleaned up the counter, the walls, the bananas, the previously clean utensils, and helped me finish blending the soup.  Then he cleaned the entire blender.  All I can say is - he is WONDERFUL!

This soup was not the easiest thing I have made.  That is an understatement.  If you have been reading my blog you have noticed that I like quicker, easier meals that are possible to make on a weeknight after working all day, commuting home, working out, and there isn’t much time left in the evening.  This recipe is a little more time consuming.  I would suggest buying prechopped broccoli.  That would have saved me a lot of time.  However, I think that grating your own cheese is important.  I don’t think pregrated cheese would have melted as nicely.

The recipe says that you can use any type of cheese.  I used sharp cheddar because I thought it would make it the cheesiest.  However, I sampled the soup and it tasted like it needed more cheese.  So I basically doubled the cheese.

The blending is also not necessary, but it really did make it better.  And Derrick doesn’t like huge chunks of broccoli anyway.  So, because of the lack of cheesiness I was slightly disappointed, but after Derrick tried it he turned to me and said, “This is better than Panera.” And that made the whole thing worth it.  :)

1 whole onion, diced (I of course left out but I did sprinkle in some onion powder and garlic powder)
1 stick butter
⅓ cup flour
4 cups milk (calls for whole, I used 1%)
2 cups half and half
4 heads broccoli cut into florets (this made a lot - I would say 2-3 would be sufficient)
1 pinch Nutmeg
3 cups grated cheese (I used about 6 cups!
dash salt
black pepper

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add onions.  Cook for 3-4 minutes, then sprinkle the flour over top.  Combine and cook for a minute, then pour in milk and half-and-half.  Add nutmeg, broccoli, salt, and plenty of black pepper.

Cover and simmer about 30 minutes over low heat until broccoli is tender.  This is the point that you can puree in the blender.  After my big disaster, I found out it worked best if I scooped a little broccoli to fill up about ⅓ of the blender at a time.  When I poured in all the milk and filled it fuller, there were pockets of air that kept exploding out.  Transfer back to pot and add cheese.  Heat through until it is all melted.  Taste and add more seasonings (or more cheese!) if needed.  If it is too thick you can add some chicken broth.

Next time I am definitely serving it in bread bowls.  I know I said it with the potato soup, too, but this soup would be especially good in bread bowls.

Good luck!

 Note: We froze half of what we made and reheated it tonight.  We ate it out of sourdough bread bowls and it was delicious!  Actually we had one big bread bowl that Derrick cut in half and scooped out the middles.  Worked perfectly!  Now I can't wait to make this soup again!  ;)