A recipe countdown: Cream of Broccoli Soup

image created by Stephen Wilson

Toronto is currently experiencing a bit of a heat wave, so I thought this would be the perfect time to share a hot soup recipe. Jokes aside, I love soup, particularly cream of broccoli soup. Why, because to me it's just such a calming dish to make. And eat. It's creamy, soothing and the recipe is a quick version I created out of the many variations that are out in this great, wide, culinary world.

Why is soup such a great thing to make? Mostly because the end results are so tasty that you wonder why you haven't made it more often. Fresh stock, fresh or frozen vegetables can be used in this recipe, and at the end of a hard working day, sometimes soup, perhaps along with a home-made, crusty bun sandwich, just hits all the right spots.

This recipe is low in salt and added fat, because you will be able to control that yourself(!), and takes very little time to prepare. Please note that this is dairy based soup, so it may not freeze well. It's probably best to eat it as soon as possible, and that's not a bad thing at all.

Cream of Broccoli Soup (Four servings)
3 cups of Chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups of chopped broccoli - fresh is preferred, but you can use frozen. Set aside a few florets for garnish
1 chopped onion
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup of hot milk
salt and pepper to taste


Preparation: In a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a boil. Add in broccoli and onion, and reduce heat to simmer. Cook broccoli until it retains a nice green colour. Do not over cook the broccoli or it will lose its colour. Whisk in the flour to thicken the soup. Pass the soup and its contents through a food mill (if you have it, or a fine china cap, or a strainer with cheesecloth into a bowl. Once this is done, pour soup back into saucepan, heat it up but do not let it come to a boil, and add in the hot milk. Add in salt and pepper to taste and serve. There is the option of adding a dollop of heavy cream to the finished soup, but again that's just an option. Garnish with cooked broccoli florets.

Recipe courtesy of Stephen Wilson