Cream of Broccoli Soup

Cream of Broccoli Soup, originally uploaded by hezro.

We went to Dwight's aunt's house for Thanksgiving. One evening she made Cream of Broccoli soup and it was so yummy! I asked her how she makes it and she said, "Oh...I don't follow a recipe...a little of this, a little of that." Which of course didn't really help me make my own Cream of Broccoli soup. Her daughter told me that she puts lemon and sour cream in so I googled for a recipe that had lemon and sour cream.

I never did find that but I did find a recipe which I've now made several times and I think it's pretty darn good. The kids even like it so that says A LOT. In fact, even Dwight will eat it which really says a lot.  Honestly though, that shouldn't be a surprise since the reicpe has a 4.5 star average after 499 reviews on AllRecipes.com.

It's good just the way it is but I've also modified it a little just because of what we had in the fridge and it seems to be a pretty forgiving recipes. I tried to do it ala Aunt Esther with lemon and sour cream and that was good. I've used heavy cream instead of milk - yummy. I've used half evaporated milk and half regular milk - yummy. Today we had it for lunch and I threw some shredded cheese on top - yummy.

If you like cream of broccoli soup, definitely give this a try:

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1 stalk celery, chopped
* 3 cups chicken broth
* 8 cups broccoli florets
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 2 cups milk
* ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium sized stock pot, and saute onion and celery until tender. Add broccoli and broth, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.
3. In small saucepan, over medium-heat melt 3 tablespoons butter, stir in flour and add milk. Stir until thick and bubbly, and add to soup. Season with pepper and serve.

Source:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/best-cream-of-broccoli-soup/Detail.aspx