Saturday, January 21, 2012

Broccoli Potato Cheese Soup

Winter is here. I've continued to bounce back and forth between vegan and completely non-vegan recipes, mostly cause sometimes I feel like cooking different things. Well, this weekend I felt like making some soup...

Ingredients

1/2 large white onion, diced
1 carrot, sliced in rounds
2 short celery stalks, sliced
3 red potatoes (feel free to use one less, or three small ones) diced -- these will be boiled separately
1 large broccoli head
1/3 cup of butter
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
6 oz. colby jack cheese, shredded

garlic
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
thyme (though, as I eat the soup, I'd change this to one bay leaf. I probably would've done that to begin with, but I didn't have any on hand)
1/3 cup flour



First, I set the potatoes on to boil. I probably did this a bit early, as they are quite soft...but that's okay.

While potatoes were boiling, I put the 1/3 cup of butter in a heavy saucepan and heated it on medium high. Then I added the diced onion, sprinkled with pepper, red pepper flakes and some salt. Once the onions have softened a bit, add as much garlic as you think you'll like.

While all of that was cooking, I chopped the carrot, broccoli, and celery. Once the onions had completely softened, I whisked in the flour and stirred until it was well mixed. Since I left the onions in, it created a bit of a paste. Then I added the chicken broth, half and half, milk, and a small amount of thyme (this is when I would've put in the bay leaf).

Once the soup mixture has come to a boil, add the carrots, broccoli, and celery (and pepper, cause I love pepper). Then lower the mixture to low heat and let simmer for another 20 minutes or so. Drain the po
tatoes and add them to the mixture as well. While the soup simmered, I grated t
he cheese, which I added at the end of about 25 minutes. Once again I sprinkled it with pepper and plenty of salt.


Then we enjoyed! This soup really was delicious, and my boyfriend said it was "restaurant quality." So I hope y'all like it, too!

While the potatoes boiled, I diced the onion and added to a heavy saucepan with butter in