Day 182--Thrice Nearly-Famous Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe

Prologue:

This is the story of the thrice nearly-famous cheddar broccoli soup.  There are just some dishes you want to make but life gets into the way--whether it's sickness, or vacation time, or it's too late to go grocery shopping, or 'who wants to make soup when it's 80 degrees outside?'.  After attempting to make this soup (found on thefoodnetwork.com called Almost Famous Broccoli-Cheese Soup) on 3 separate occasions I finally found a cure: bread bowls!  At $1.29 a bowl, this soup was happening.  And it was delicious.

Thrice Nearly-Famous Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Prep time: about 2 minutes total

Cook time: about 60 minutes total

Total time: 1 hour

Servings:  4

Ingredients: 

1.) 6 tablespoons butter

2.) 1 small onion, chopped

3.) 1/4 cup all purpose flour

4.) 2 cups half-and-half

5.) 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth or less if you like it thicker

6.) 2 bay leaves

7.) 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 

8.) 4 cups broccoli florets (about 2 heads)

9.) 1 large carrot cut into small pieces or peeled (I used a veggie peeler to get carrot slices)

10.)  2 1/2 cups extra sharp cheddar cheese grated

11.) some salt and pepper

*optional bread bowls

Directions:

1.) Chop up your onion.  Add onion and butter into a large pot until melted and tender, about 5 minutes.

2.) Whisk (or stir) in the flour and cook until golden, 3 to 4 minutes, then gradually whisk in the half-and-half until smooth. Add the chicken broth, bay leaves and nutmeg, then season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 20 minutes. 

3.)  Meanwhile, prepare the bread bowls: Using a sharp knife, cut a circle into the top of each loaf, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Remove the bread top, then hollow out the middle with a fork or your fingers, leaving a thick bread shell.

4.) Cut up your broccoli and carrot into small pieces (I used a veggie peeler for the carrot) and add to the broth mixture and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. 

* 5.) You can puree the soup, but if you cut up the veggies small enough beforehand you can skip this step.

6.) Add the cheese to the soup and whisk over medium heat until melted.  Remove the bay leaves. Ladle into the bread bowls and garnish with cheese or carrot slices. Done!

Review:

Super yummy, fancy, and classy.  Especially after a day at Balboa Park watching a play and perusing the museums.  Despite it's numerous ingredients, it's extremely easy to make, for it only requires one pot and you simply add things to it every 20 minutes for so.  And with a bread bowl, the only dishes you'll have to clean are your spoon, the pot, the knife, and the cutting board.  

It was a creamy soup with just enough broccoli and carrots.  I had been hesitate to use extra sharp cheddar but the sweetness of the onion and nutmeg made it perfectly balanced.  My only complaint was that it wasn't quite as thick as I would have wanted so I might use less chicken broth for the next go-around.  

Overall, I very much enjoyed it and would make it again on cold winter night watching a comedy.