Description
This soup is a delicious way to use broccoli. The recipe needs some tweaking due to the thickness of it and how the cheesy crouton went soggy too quickly – next time I’d use small croutons instead of one big one.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 cups vegetable broth, or more to taste
- 2 pounds broccoli, trimmed
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, or more to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 3 slices country white bread, halved crosswise
- 3 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large pot over medium heat; add onion. Cook and stir until onion turns translucent
- 5 to 6 minutes. Add garlic; stir for 1 minute. Pour in broth; bring to a simmer over high heat.
- Separate florets from heads of broccoli. Cut large florets in half. Cut stems in half and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Add broccoli to simmering broth. Cover and cook until broccoli softens slightly
- 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer
- stirring occasionally
- until broccoli is very tender
- about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Blend broccoli with an immersion blender into a very smooth puree. Stir in cream
- salt
- pepper
- nutmeg
- and cayenne. Return soup to medium-low heat; cook until cream is heated through
- about 5 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Butter both sides of bread with remaining 1 tablespoon butter and place on the lined baking sheet.
- Bake bread in the preheated oven
- turning halfway through
- until toasted and crisp
- 4 to 5 minutes.
- Place 6 oven-proof soup crocks on the foil-lined baking sheet. Ladle soup into the crocks
- filling almost to the top. Place 1 piece of toasted bread in each crock; cover with Cheddar cheese.
- Set oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven’s broiler.
- Place baking sheet under broiler and broil until cheese is browned and bubbly
- 3 to 4 minutes.
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 35 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins
Servings: 6