Recipes : Very Green Broccoli Soup : Food Network

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Very Green Broccoli Soup
Recipe courtesy Michael Chiarello, 2007

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds broccoli
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup (1/4-inch) diced onion
1/2 cup (1/4-inch) diced celery
Gray salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
5 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
2 cups packed spinach
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
1 cup heavy cream or buttermilk (if using buttermilk, cut the lemon zest in half)

Directions

Cut the broccoli florets from the stems. Peel the tough outer skin from
the stems and trim off the fibrous ends. Cut the stems lengthwise into slices about 1/2-inch thick
and then crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a soup pot over medium-high heat until hot. Add the garlic and cook
until light brown. Add the onion and celery, lower the heat to medium, and season with salt and
pepper. Cook the vegetables slowly until tender, about 10 minutes. Regulate the heat so the
vegetables cook without taking on color.

Add the thyme and stir. Add the broccoli stems, stock, and salt and pepper, to taste, and bring to a
boil. Cook, uncovered, for about 3 minutes. Add the florets and continue to cook until very tender,
about 5 minutes more.

Puree the soup in a blender in small batches. Add some of the spinach and some of the lemon zest to
each batch and then puree it. (The soup can be made to this point, covered, and refrigerated for up
to 1 day or frozen for up to 1 month.)

Return the soup to the pan and reheat over gentle heat. Stir in the cream. Taste and adjust the

seasoning with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Chef's Note: When I plan on finishing a dish with the addition of a dairy product, as I do here with
cream, I often add a dairy product early in the cooking, too, as I do with the butter in the initial
cooking of the vegetables. It melds the flavors.