Last year, I had a client who was trying to lose some post-baby weight. She hired me for six weeks to make nothing but steamed chicken and broccoli…
Every.
Day.
Yum…
She didn’t want any salt. No butter. No oil. The only flavorings she would allow me to use were lemon juice, garlic, and pepper.
Again, I say yawn—er, I mean yum.
Feeling a bit guilty, not wanting to rip her off, I said, “You know, you could easily make this yourself. Or better yet, I could make you other things that are still healthy.”
Nope. She was determined to lose weight and was convinced this chicken and broccoli plan was the way to do it.
So, for the next 42 days that’s what I made for her.
I started noticing that I was wasting a lot of broccoli though. I was throwing away the ugly, knotty stems simply because they weren’t “pretty.” And let me be clear, I HATE food waste. I hate it just about as much as I love making food look pretty (seriously it ranks right up there with spiders and mayonnaise). I mean, I Tupperware everything, no matter how small. I’ll either eat it as a leftover or use it in a totally different dish.
I think you know where I’m going with this.
What could I make pretty with these ugly, knotty green chunks?
Broccoli soup!
Everything gets blended, anyway right? And let me tell you—42 days of broccoli makes a LOT of soup. We just had a nor’easter blow through NYC and I pulled some broccoli soup from my freezer to reheat (see—I save everything!) and eat it during the storm. Because let’s face it, who doesn’t love soup when it’s cold and rainy?
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes
Yields: 5 cups
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
½ onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
4 cups broccoli
½ cup fat free half and half
1 ½ cup vegetable stock
¼ cup cream cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese (or a parmesan rind, see “The Cook’s 2 Cents” below)
- Heat olive oil and garlic in a pan on medium heat until fragrant. Add onions and sauté ~2-3 minutes. Add celery and broccoli and cook until vegetables are tender (Don’t let them brown).
- Add vegetable stock, half and half, and cream cheese. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently so cream doesn’t burn.
- Blend with immersion blender or Vitamix until smooth.
- Simmer over low heat X ~20 minutes. Add parmesan and stir until cheese is melted.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
The Cook’s 2 Cents:
- Usually you’re supposed to season food prior to and during the cooking process. I learned a long time ago that this is not the case with soup. As the water heats, it evaporates. This leaves you with the same amount of salt but much less water. You don’t want your soup tasting like sea water! So, salt it at the end.
- Some people don’t have vegetable stock on hand. It’s perfectly fine to substitute water instead.
- I recently made this to take pictures for this blog post. It didn’t come out as smooth as it had the first time. Then I remembered—I only used the stems the first time around. This time, I was using the floret with the little green bulbs that weren’t getting blended because they were too small! It still tasted great, but just keep in mind if you want a smoother soup, save the florets for another dish.
- Another helpful tip to cutting out waste is to save your parmesan rinds. You can freeze them and then when making any kind of soup, just add the rind. They’ll dissolve throughout the cooking process. The rind serves as both a thickener as well as a flavor enhancer.
Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size: 1 cup
Servings Per Recipe: 5
Calories: 112 Fat: 5g Sodium: 221mg Carbs: 11g Fiber: 2g Sugars: 4g Protein: 7g
