I love making soup and this broccoli concoction is in my opinion the best one I have come up with so far. I've never been one for using measurements (a skill/quirk I picked up from my Nanna) so the quantities are approximations.
Ingredients
Salted butter
1 onion – finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic – crushed
A couple of sticks celery - chopped
A large carrot – diced
1 medium sized potato – diced
Broccoli – broken into large segments
A few fresh tomatoes – I prefer a mix of a few baby plum and a couple of medium vine ripened
A squeeze of tomato puree
1 litre vegetable stock
Mature cheddar – grated (as much or as little as you like)
Crème fraiche
Sage – a little bit
Cayenne pepper – a tiny bit
Salt – to taste
Black pepper – to taste
Method
- Melt the butter in a large pan, add onion and garlic and soften on a medium heat
- Add carrot and celery, cover pan and sweat off on a low heat for 10minutes
- Remove lid and add broccoli, tomatoes and potato and pour over stock
- Add the tomato puree and other seasoning and stir in
- Bring to the boil then reduce the heat, replace lid and simmer until the vegetables are softened and cooked through.
- Remove from heat and leave to cool for 10 mins
- Using a potato masher, break up the mixture until there are few lumps
- Blend the mixture
- Add the grated cheese, stir in then blend again
- Add crème fraiche to taste and blend for a third time.
- Serve with crusty bread or as it is.
