the pleasures of summer’s bounty: broccoli soup and roasted broccoli

After about 3 weeks of no rain, the skies turned grey this weekend and the rain came down much to the delight of parched lawns here in Montréal. Unfortunately, this meant not going on a picnic, or a good hike, or bicycling. Fortunatley, weather such as this calls for staying indoors and making soup. Not a brightly coloured autumn soup or hearty winter soup, but a soup that makes good use of summer’s bounty. A broccoli soup! Whereas my husband and our eldest son can’t get enough of it, my two daughters will gladly exchange their soup for a roasted version of broccoli! I won’t argue with that. In the end, broccoli is good food.

Broccoli Soup

This recipe makes a lot of soup. It easily fills my 3.3 L casserole.

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 6-8 cups of vegetable stock (my recipe is here) or chicken stock
• 275 g chopped onions (about 2 medium)
• 125 g chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
• 230 g peeled and chopped potatoes (about 2 medium)
• 100 g peeled and chopped carrots (about 2 medium)
• 700 g broccoli florets and tender stems
• 3 tsp salt
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp fresh savory leaves
• 1 cup cream (optional)
• roasted broccoli florets for garnishing

1. Melt butter in a large pot. Add onions, celery, potatoes and carrots and sauté until the onions are slightly translucent (do not brown).
2. Add the broccoli, salt, savory and the stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, ensuring all the vegetables are tender and can be easily mashed with the back of a spoon.
3. Purée the soup using a blender (I prefer using an immersion blender).
4. At this point, the soup may be cooled and frozen in individual containers.
5. When serving, add cream if you like and season with freshly ground pepper.

Roasted Broccoli

• broccoli florets and tender stems cut into bite-size pieces
• avocado or sunflower oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In a bowl, toss broccoli with enough olive oil to generously coat the broccoli. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in a single layer on a sheet and roast in a 400°F oven for about 30 minutes or until the broccoli is slightly browned and crisp.