I brought a new cookbook home from work today, Martha Stewart's Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. My friend Laura has had me over for dinner and made a few things from this book before, so I knew it would be good. I had it in my bag and needed to stop at the store to pick up milk on my way home anyway, so I decided to pick a recipe and pick up the ingredients I needed and make something for dinner. The cream of asparagus soup sounded great, but would have required a few too many extra purchases, so I went with the broccoli soup instead. It was funny, walking around the store with the book open in my cart. All I needed was the broccoli and some more vegetable stock, but I ended up buying a bunch of other groceries too. (I spend way too much money at the grocery store. I don't have problems with clothes shopping or shoe shopping... but the grocery store gets me every time.) Anyway, it wasn't a hard soup to make at all and it came out pretty well. I always expect soups to be thicker than they are. I added a spoonful of flour to make it just a little creamier. Not a super exciting soup and not as delicious as the tomato soup I made last year, but then nothing compares to that soup. I ate it with some toast with tomato and melted cheese. A nice, spur-of-the-moment dinner... recipe #8 - yum!
Creamy Broccoli Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 cups vegetable stock
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 and 1/2 pounds fresh broccoli (florets separated, stems peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds)
In a large saucepan heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the nutmeg and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in 1 and 1/2 cups water, stock, oats, and broccoli. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until broccoli is tender, 5-10 minutes. Puree using a hand-blender.
New ingredients: Nothing! That's why I picked this recipe.
New skills: peeling broccoli stems... it's a lot of work and doesn't seem so worthwhile
I love that cookbook! Weirdly enough, I had never cooked a hardboiled egg as well as after I read the how-to section at the back. Such a great cookbook, and so pretty too!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I bet you could make this soup thicker and more delicious (and, by association, less healthy) by adding some nice sharp cheddar cheese. Yum. And you could buy broccoli crowns instead of the whole broccolis maybe?
And I have a request: I have heard a rumor that there is such thing as maple bacon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Can you make those, even if you don't eat bacon?
Keep up the good work!