Cream of broccoli soup: bright green, velvety, in 35 minutes
A broccoli soup that stays bright green instead of greyish: the stalk and a potato cook longer for body, the florets go into the pot for the last five minutes only and the soup is blended at once. Cream, nutmeg and lemon juice to finish. Four bowls from one head, a midweek dinner.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Chopping 10 min
- Cooking 15 min
- Blending and serving 10 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneBreak down the broccoli
Cut off the florets and split into small pieces, setting a few of the smallest aside for garnish. Peel the tough skin from the stalk and dice it: it is as tasty as the florets, it just needs more time. Dice the onion and potato, chop the garlic.
Ingredients: 1 pcs broccoli · 1 pcs onion · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs potato · 30 g butter · 800 ml vegetable stock · 100 ml whipping cream (30%) · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper · 1 pinch nutmeg · ½ pcs lemon, juice
TipThe stalk is a good part of the broccoli and often ends up in the bin. Peeled and cooked it tastes rather like kohlrabi and thickens the soup.
Florets apart, stalk peeled and dicedSoften the onion, add the stalk and potato
Melt the butter in a pot, soften the onion 4 minutes, add the garlic for a minute. Add the stalk and potato, stir, pour in the hot stock and simmer 10 minutes, until the potato is tender.
Onion, garlic, stalk, potato, stockFlorets for the last 5 minutes
Add the florets and cook uncovered for only 5 minutes, until tender but still bright green. Drop the reserved garnish florets in for the last minute and lift them out with a spoon.
TipThe green is chlorophyll, which turns grey with long cooking and under a lid (acids from the steam drip back into the pot). Five minutes and an open pot is the whole secret.
Five minutes, no lid, bright greenBlend at once
Take off the heat and blend immediately until smooth, 2 minutes. Add the cream (keep 2 tablespoons back for serving), salt, pepper, nutmeg and lemon juice. Too thick? Add stock. Warm through but don't boil again.
Blend at once, then cream and lemonServe
Toast the pumpkin seeds a minute in a dry pan, dice the bread and toast it in a dry pan for 3–4 minutes. Ladle the soup into bowls, a swirl of cream on top, the seeds, the reserved florets and croutons. Keeps 2 days in the fridge; reheated, the colour is a little darker.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp pumpkin seeds · 2 pcs bread for croutons
Cream, seeds, a floret, croutons
Before you start
With blue cheese
50 g blue cheese melted into the soup instead of the cream: a bold grown-up version, no nutmeg.
From frozen broccoli
450 g frozen, unthawed, straight into the boiling stock for 4 minutes. Slightly paler colour, same flavour.
The soup came out grey
Florets cooked too long, or a lid on the pot. Next time 5 minutes, no lid, and blend the moment it comes off the heat.
