My daughter’s a picky eater, one of those people who is particular about both taste and texture. Things easily range into some combination of bitter/slimy, so we have to be careful what we serve her. Strange thing, though, she seems to like all beans, from lentils to lima (spare me, okay?). She’s eleven.
Beyond beans, she’s always liked broccoli and potatoes, and when we deign to visit places like Panera or Crispers, she goes for the broccoli-cheddar soup. Seems simple, but all that cheese? Not the healthiest. By working with Yukon gold potatoes, I came up with a fantastic, rich soup that’s so flavorful, you’ll swear it must be bad for you:
Ingredients (serves six)
six medium Yukon gold potatoes, cubed to equal sizes (about 1/2 to 1 inch)
1 bunch broccoli
kosher salt
2 cups cheddar cheese, separated
black pepper (to taste)
Technique
Chop
Puree
Put the potatoes in a large stock pot, approximately 6 quarts. Add cold water until the potatoes are covered by about an inch of water. Add two tablespoons of kosher salt. Place the pot over high heat and cover with a tight-fitting lid.
Turn on the oven, set for 400 degrees F. Chop the broccoli to remove the florets (the top pieces that look like oak trees at a distance). Keep the florets intact and spread on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil.
When the oven is at temperature and the potatoes are boiling, set a timer for seven minutes. Place the broccoli in the oven and let each cook until the timer beeps.
Remove the broccoli from the oven and take the potatoes off the heat. Add half the broccoli to the potatoes and puree using an immersion blender. Chop the remaining broccoli and stir it into the soup, then slowly fold in about half a cup of the cheddar cheese. Serve with hearty bread and garnish with a teaspoon of the remaining shredded cheddar in each bowl. Bring the soup to table with the remaining cheese and allow people to stir it into their soups as they see fit.
This soup couldn’t be easier and tastes wonderful. The starch from the Yukon potatoes gives the broccoli cheddar soup a wonderful, rich mouth feel without adding fat, and since it doesn’t use chicken stock like many other soup recipes, your vegetarian conscience remains clear. Just avoid the smugness. No one likes a smug vegetarian (right, Bittman?).
7 Comments
This looks great – I wouldn’t have thought to roast the broccoli, which I bet really contributes to a better flavor. Cannot wait to try it!
This looks lovely. I couldn’t believe there is no stock or cream involved. I’ll be trying this soon.
This looks so creamy. Good thing both my kids like broccoli. Perfect for this cold weather!
I can’t believe how rich this looks, and without piles and piles of cheese and cream. I’ll have to try this out, Broccoli Cheddar Soup is also a favorite of my sisters. Thanks!
I love it when a recipe comes together that’s both healthy AND decadent. From the look of things, this is a hit.
I’m all over the roasted broccoli concept for this soup.
This soup was unbelievably delicious. It’s a really snowy day here and we got the ingredients this morning and made it for an early lunch. I think it’s one of best soups I’ve made at home and is on par with restaurant broccoli/cheese/potato soups. The best part is that it’s pretty healthy and doesn’t use milk, cream, butter or stock. Thank you!
This was fantastic, my boyfriend loves a cheddar broccoli soup but we recently found out the one we had been getting for lunch had been made with chicken broth. We are both vegetarian so we havent had it since. When I asked him last night if he wanted this for dinner tonight, he was eager to try it. It didnt disappoint and is apparently his favorit thing I have made so far. Better than what we use to get when we went out. So thanks for sharing, I love the blog!
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[...] for the cheese, which suits the lactose intolerant Boy just fine! The original recipe came from here. I didn’t change too much, but have noted my changes [...]