Broccoli Cheddar Soup

The winter has been long and I was eager for an old soup favorite that I hadn't made for a long time.  The soup brought back a lot of memories of a certain chapter in my life, not quite forgotten, but it seems like a life time ago.

I remember many delightful lunch visits with a friend.  She was on the Board of Directors of the agency that I worked for and would regularly invite me over for lunch to discuss "business", and personal discussions wound up present at the table as well.  She was a high society (truly) classy lady; I was a young girl in my 20's.  In spite of our many differences, we shared a lot of stories about our lives during those lunches.  She prayed for me and I prayed for her. 

Everything you ate at her home was made extra special by her careful preparation and (always) incredible presentation/table setting.  A favorite was her tuna salad on a toasted bagel; still wonder what that secret ingredient was, but I'm suspicious that it was pecans and I KNOW it was also dill.  Yum. 

Somewhere in my house is her exact recipe for this soup.  I don't know where that is (!) but Google was kind enough to fill in the details.

BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 small carrot, chopped finely
Splash of
olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons
flour
2 cups milk, room temperature
1/2 pound chopped frozen or fresh
broccoli
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 pound of
cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and
pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Heat olive oil in soup pot on medium low heat.
2. Add onion, carrot, and salt. Saute until onions and carrots are soft.
3. In separate pot, melt butter on medium low heat.
4. Add flour to melted butter a bit at a time. Mix well to prevent lumps.
5. Cook flour and butter mixture for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
6. Slowly add milk to flour and butter, mixing thoroughly as you go to remove lumps.
7. When all the milk is added, return it to the heat, and gently warm it up.
8. When the milk, butter and flour mixture (white sauce) is hot, begin to add the cheese a bit at a time. Allow it to melt in before adding more.
9. When onions and carrots are done cooking, add chicken stock and broccoli. Turn up heat to medium-high.
10. Slowly add the cheese sauce to the soup, mixing thoroughly as you do so to avoid lumps.
11. Add pepper, and more salt if necessary.
I added the cheese directly to the broccoli/white sauce mixture and stirred to melt.  Following, I used my immersion blender to puree.  Added a bit more shredded cheese when I served up.
Thanks, Marilyn, for the soup!  Thanks, more, for the memories and friendship!

Comments

  1. Maureen I still have a recipe card that you wrote for me sharing Marilyn's recipe....If you need the recipe, I can send it to you.

    Louise

    ReplyDelete
  2. Louise, I'd love that. I'm pretty sure that this is close/bang on, but wouldn't mind the original. I know it is here somewhere in my house, but....

    Thanks for the offer and thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete

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