Brenda's Cream of Broccoli Soup

My family loves cream soup, and once I learnt how easy it was to make and freeze my own, we've not bought a can of Campbell's anymore! =)

I use my thermal pot for making cream soups, and here's our favourite cream soup recipe:

Brenda's Cream of Broccoli Soup

2 litres water

600g Broccoli (with stalk)

60g Celery (finely sliced)

3 cloves Garlic (chopped)

1 large Onion (chopped)

30g butter

50g flour

2 Knorr chicken cubes

1 tablespoon rolled oats

500ml UHT milk

Dash of Nutmeg

Pepper to taste

Grated Cheddar Cheese for garnishing

1. Boil 2L of water.

2. 600g of broccoli is about 2 large heads of broccoli. I usually just trim the broccoli of any discolouration and leaves, and then add the whole broccoli with its stalk to the boiling water. Boil for them for about 5 minutes, then remove the broccoli and save the liquid for later.

3. By now, the broccoli is soften (and HOT!). Use a knife and cut out about a quarter of the florets, chop them up roughly and reserve them for the final step. This will give your cream soup texture. Cut up the rest of the broccoli and put it in a food processor or blender, but don't start blending yet! =)

4. In a frying pan, melt the butter and fry the onion, garlic and celery until soft. To this mix, reduce heat slightly and add the flour and stir thoroughly for about 1 or 2 minutes. Add some liquid from the soup pot until you get a thickened mixture.

5. Put this thickened mixture into the food processor or blender, and blend it with the broccoli. If needed, you can add more liquid from the soup pot. How creamy you want your soup depends on how long you blend.

6. Pour the blended mix back into the soup pot, add in the chicken cubes and oats, and then turn up the heat. The oats thicken the soup and gives it a nice flavour and texture.

7. When the soup is boiling, stir in the milk, all the broccoli, nutmeg and pepper. Heat the mixture until it simmers or until tiny bubbles appear at the side. It’s ready to serve. However, if you’re using the thermal pot like me, I usually put it back into the thermal pot for a time to let the flavours mix. You do not have to reheat the soup before serving.

8. Garnish the soup with grated cheddar cheese. Serve with crusty French bread. =)

9. Freeze whatever soup not consumed.

You can also substitute the broccoli with watercress for cream of watercress soup or potato and carrot for potato soup. =) Also, you can add salt or pepper to taste, but our family finds that the soup is tasty enough without additional salt.

I like my cream soup soupy-thick, rather than gravy-thick.