This broccoli soup uses apples to give it body, making it a surprisingly creamy soup without the cream!
You just have to trust me on this one. Broccoli and apples are not two foods you would expect to find together in a soup or anything else. But this soup? It is sublimate.
The apple adds a slight sweetness and acidity that softens any herbal bitterness in the broccoli. The result is a broccoli lover’s dream, a creamy, full-bodied broccoli soup, without the cream!
The recipe comes from my friend Kathi, who has been making this soup for her family for 30 years. The idea first came to her from the 1979 cookbook “Cooking the Nouvelle Cuisine in America” by Michele Urvater and David Liederman.
Broccoli Apple Soup
ingredients
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1 big pile broccoli (about 3 heads with stems)
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3 tablespoon butter
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1 Cup yellow or White Onionthinly sliced or finely chopped
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1 good cooking Apple (a non-tart apple such as JonagoldGolden Delicious, McIntosh), peeled, seeded, chopped
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3 cups chicken broth
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1 Cup unfiltered Apple juice or cider (not cider)
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4 branches lemon thyme or thyme
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2 long stripes Lemon peel
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1 tablespoon fresh chiveschopped for garnish
method
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Prepare broccoli:
Separate the broccoli florets from the stems. Use a vegetable peeler to peel off the tough outer skin of the stalks. Slice and finely chop the stalks (a mini chopper food processor works well for this step).
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Cook the sliced onions and apples in butter:
Heat a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan (4 liters) over medium-high heat. Melt butter in pan. Add the onion and apple and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook until onions are translucent and apples are soft, 10 minutes.
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Add broccoli, broth, apple cider, thyme, lemon zest:
Add the broccoli florets and chopped broccoli to the apple and onion mixture. Add the broth and apple cider.
Tie the sprigs of thyme together with kitchen twine and place in the pot. Add the lemon zest strips to the pot as well.
Increase heat, bring to a boil, reduce heat to maintain a low simmer. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes.
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Puree soup:
Remove from stove. Remove (discard) the thyme and lemon peels from the soup! Work in batches, filling the mixing bowl no more than a third full at a time and puree the soup.
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Customize Spices:
Return the soup to the pot, reheat and season to taste. Garnish with chopped fresh chives to serve.
Recipe adapted from Cooking the Nouvelle Cuisine in America by Michele Urvater and David Liederman.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 196 | calories |
| 8g | Fat |
| 27g | carbohydrates |
| 7g | protein |
