Anne is here for you during this stressful time!!

One of my ladies shared this delicious broccoli soup recipe (thanks Kathleen). It’s nice and light, and since were heading into a season of heavy foods, I wanted to share this with you.

While you do make a light roux, it’s just enough flour to thicken the soup. Most of the body of the soup comes from the potatoes. As with most soups its fairly forgiving so feel free to experiment with the proportions of potatoes to broccoli, add cheese, or use a milk substitute.

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ lbs broccoli
• 3 onions (1 ½ lbs)
• salt to taste
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 ½ Tbs. butter
• 3 russet potatoes (approx. 1 lb)
• 1 stalk celery
• 3 cups water
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• juice of ½ lemon
• 1 ½ Tbs. flour
• 2 cups hot milk
• 2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
• generous pinch of cayenne

Directions:

1. Trim the broccoli, peel the stems and chop them coarsely, and break the heads into small florets. You should have about 6 cups of broccoli pieces.
2. Coarsely chop the onions.
3. Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large non stick pan, and sauté the onions until golden.
4. Peel and dice the potatoes and chop the celery. Place them in a soup pot with the water and vegetable broth, and about ½ teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the broccoli pieces and the sautéed onions and simmer another 8-10 minutes, until everything is tender. If you like, you can reserve a cup or two of the broccoli florets to steam separately and use as a garnish, or to stir into the soup at the end for greater texture.
5. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the lemon juice, and then puree the soup in batches in a blender (I use an immersion blender). Don’t over process: the texture should be somewhat rough.
6. Melt the remaining 1½ tablespoons of butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet and stir in the flour. Cook this roux for a few minutes, stirring, until it has a pale-gold color. Whisk in the hot milk, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring or whisking until it thickens. Whisk in the mustard and the cayenne, and mix the white sauce into the soup.
7. Bring the soup back to a simmer, taste, and correct the seasoning with more salt, mustard, or cayenne if needed.