Exactly one month in between posts. I have to start out by wishing everyone a belated Happy Holidays. I also need to say thank you to those people who took the time to send me tweets and notes and emails the past couple of weeks. Between those and the comments left in my last post, I was moved more than I can ever tell you.
I can't even begin to tell you all a fib - it's been a rough month. More has transpired in my personal life than I care to admit. Loss is becoming a reoccurring theme to me and - at times - its been pretty tough to take. Work has been wonderfully hectic and busy and has proved to be a good source of inspiration and distraction. It's also left me little time to get back in the swing of things here at RWT.
When I need to turn to something for comfort, food-wise, it's often soup. Those people who have been reading this blog for any amount of time know my connection to soup and how it has been so symbolic for me. The beautiful thing about soup is that it doesn't have to take long to be delicious. Don't get me wrong, the slow cooked melded-together flavors of soups have their place, too. A quick soup, though, lets you get in the kitchen, make something quick and relatively inexpensive, and eat something thats good for you - both body and mind.
This is a quick little recipe I saw in a copy of Donna Hay's magazine. I love adding a bit of lemon to soups to give flavors that made need a little acidity some brightness. For my batch of this soup, I didn't use the entire amount of cream - more like 1/2 cup. It gave the soup a deeper green color and cut down on some of the calories and fat. Feel free to use the full amount if you so choose. Also, the color of your soup will vary depending on what stock you use - my organic vegetable stock was much yellower in color than other stocks would be. You can also play with the texture of this soup by leaving it chunkier or smoother, depending on your personal taste.
Broccoli Lemon Soup - recipe originally found in Donna Hay magazine
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 white onion, sliced
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 medium size potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 head broccoli, chopped
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 2/3 cup cream
- salt and pepper
- fresh ricotta as garnish on top - optional
- Heat olive oil in a pot, sweat onions in it for a couple of seconds. There’s no need to wilt it.
- Add in potatoes and broccoli (leave 1 or 2 or the florets as extra) and stock. Cover and let it cook for 5-10 minutes or till the vegetables are soft.
- Puree the soup with a stick mixer or blender until smooth.
- Return to the pot and add cream, lemon juice and zest, salt, pepper and extra broccoli florets and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes or until the broccoli is tender. Ladle into bowls and top with ricotta cheese, if you so choose. Serve immediately.
Editors Note: This is totally one of those recipes from the "Looks like crap, tastes like delicious" files. Trust me :)
