Broccoli and Cheese Soup

With Fall settling in and Winter on its way, I thought I'd share one of my absolute favorite soup recipes with you. Believe me - this stuff is yummy and so easy to make.


Broccoli and Cheese Soup

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup yellow onions
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Pinch nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken stock or canned, low-sodium chicken broth
1 (16-ounce) package frozen broccoli, thawed
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups shredded medium Cheddar cheese

In a medium pot, melt the 3 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until soft, 3 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme cook, stirring, until fragrant, for 20 seconds. Add the flour and cook, stirring until the mixture is well blended and smells fragrant, 2 minutes. Slowly add the chicken stock, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook, stirring, until tender, for 10 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and puree with a hand-held immersion blender. (Alternatively, in batches, puree in a blender or food processor and return to the pot.)

Add the cream and bring to bare simmer to heat through. Add the cheese and cook over low heat, stirring, until melted. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons cold butter, stirring to blend.

Remove from the heat and ladle the soup into bowls.

Here are a few tricks I learned along the way while making this soup:

• Instead of buying 87 cans of chicken broth to fuel my soup-making for the Fall and Winter months, I buy a few jars of chicken and beef bouillon granules (found in any grocery store next to the canned or boxed broths). Add one teaspoon of bouillon granules to one cup of water and - VIOLA! - you have instant broth without spending a ton of money or taking up half of the space in your pantry.
• If you're trying to cut fat, only add half of the cream (or omit it altogether). The cream does add a lot of richness to the soup, but it still tastes good without those extra calories.
• The easiest way I've found to puree the soup is to put it into a blender and hit the "puree" button. So easy. I've also been known to eat this soup without pureeing it. It's chunky, but still very yummy.

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think!