Broccoli and Parmesan cheese soup

As we get into the cooler months, and even when it's not the cooler months, we like our soup. We have been in the mood for soup recently and The Boy decided that he wanted to cook.

He looked into his soup cookbook by his friend Sibel Hodge called A Gluten Free Soup Opera (Gluten Free/Wheat Free Cookbook No 2) and found a recipe for broccoli and Parmesan cheese soup.

Since I love both broccoli and Parmesan cheese, I was not going to object.

I was going to object even less since The Boy was going to be the one cooking. :-)

BTW, I know the recipe book is gluten free, but we are not gluten free and you certainly do not need to look for gluten free alternatives to ingredients, if you are not gluten intolerant. You can just use regular ingredients, which is what we did.

Here's the recipe for the soup:

Ingredients:

• 1 onion - diced
• 2 cloves of garlic - crushed and chopped
• 1 stick of celery and leaves - sliced
• 1 large head of broccoli (including stalk and any leaves) - chopped into chunks
• 1 leek - sliced
• 1 large potato - diced
• 2 pints (approx 5 cups) of gluten free chicken stock / vegetable stock / water (the gluten free is not required if you are not gluten intolerant)
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon chives - chopped
• 2 cups of Parmesan cheese - grated finely
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil for frying

Garnish:

• Grated nutmeg

Instructions:

• Fry the onion and leek until soft.
• Add the other ingredients, except for the cheese and bring to boil, simmer for 35 - 45 minutes.
• Blitz with a blender or hand blender until smooth.
• Stir in cheese, then top with grated nutmeg and serve.

Serves 4 - 6

This turned out to be a very tasty and very thick soup, especially with the addition of the Parmesan cheese.

It also stuck to the sides of the pot and bowl a bit from the stickiness of the cheese, so just remember to give your pot and bowls a good soak before washing or wash right away.

The only thing that I would do differently next time (The Boy followed the recipe exactly) is that I would not include the thyme in it. While I love thyme in the cooking, I found the thyme in this soup recipe made it very herbaceous. You might like this, which in that case, by all means leave it it, but for me, I think I'll leave it out.

Overall, it is a thick, rich, creamy soup and very, very tasty. I would definitely make this again, especially on a cold winter's night.


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