Now that winter is veering closer and the UK is getting near single figures, there’s nothing like a warming bowl of soup. Soup is one of those things I never like buying from the shop, as the flavour is never great, even the fancy ones you find in the refrigerated section. I have made hundreds of soups over the years, and some can be a little complicated to cook and require a whole host of ingredients, but not this one from chef Nick Nairn, which he shared on the BBC Food website.
Just like tomatoes are the stars of tomato soups, broccoli is the main attraction of this broccoli soup recipe. I loved that I didn’t need to go to the shops to make this soup, as broccoli is always on my weekly shopping list. I initially thought it would be bland, but it really wasn’t. Once you add stock, garlic and seasonings, the soup tastes delicious and pairs beautifully with some buttered sourdough bread.
Taking just 15 minutes to cook the two-portion soup is also cheap to make – the three key ingredients only set me back £1.22, which is 61p per serving.
If I were to enhance it next time, I would add some cream when serving it, and probably pop in some Stilton cheese just before blending it for a thicker and creamier consistency.
Ingredients
- One tablespoon of olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- One garlic clove, chopped
- 500ml of vegetable stock, more if necessary
- 210g of broccoli, florets and stems chopped
- Salt and pepper
Method
I started by chopping up my broccoli; one head is more than enough for two portions, and it even stretches to three.
With the broccoli chopped, I heated the oil in a saucepan and fried the garlic for one and a half minutes. You don’t want to leave it any longer, or it will burn and ruin the taste of the soup.
Next, I added all the broccoli florets and poured the vegetable stock into the pan. I did have to add a little more stock than the recipe originally called for.
I then brought this to the boil before reducing the heat and leaving it to simmer gently for 13 minutes, until the broccoli was tender.
I added some pepper and only a tiny amount of salt, as the stock already adds saltiness to the soup. Then it was time to liquidise it until smooth, which I did using a hand blender.
Using a ladle, I plated up the soup and topped it with a little drizzle of olive oil. If you have cream, this would be perfect to pour on top instead.
