and not in a good halloween-y kind of way.
I was tired. So tired. Going to bring home take-out after swim class kind of tired. And then I became possessed. Inspired. Something.
There was a big bag of potatoes in the cabinet. Not one, but two bags of broccoli from successive farmers’ market trips one and two weeks ago in the fridge. So I put “broccoli potato soup” into epicurious. And this recipe came up.
But I had way more than 1/2 cup of broccoli and one potato. And I don’t like red bell pepper. Based on one of the reader comments that said the recipe was “very forgiving” I decided to plow ahead. So here’s what I made, in the largest pot in the kitchen:
Broccoli Cheddar Chowder
2 lbs broccoli
3 lbs russet potatoes
3 large onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
2-1/4 cups half-and-half
8 oz sharp Cheddar, coarsely grated
8 oz yogurt cheese
Discard tough lower third of broccoli stems. Peel remaining stems and finely chop. Cut remaining broccoli into very small (1-inch) florets (you should do this, I forgot to and so ended up with giant florets). Cook florets in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water to stop cooking, then drain. Reserve 8 cups cooking water for chowder.
Peel potato and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Cook potato, onions, broccoli stems, and garlic in butter in an 8- to 10-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 12 to 14 minutes. Add cumin, salt, pepper, and mustard and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add flour and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add reserved cooking water and chicken stock and simmer (partially covered), stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.
Turn off heat, and leave pot overed on the stove while you go off to swim class.
Call husband on the way home from swim class and ask him to turn on stove and warm soup-in-progress. When you get home…
Stir in half-and-half and cheese and cook, stirring, until cheese is melted, then season with salt and pepper.
Purée chowder with a hand blender if you have one, or do like we did and use a potato masher. Add florets and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 2 minutes.
Super yummy! Serve with grilled steak to get your preggy-lady iron quotient.
The best way to get me to eat my veggies is to cloak them in copious amounts of cheese, potatoes, and butter.
Since we had enough left over to fill a small swimming pool, I decided to put some in the freezer for ummm… after the baby comes? And put some more in a container for my friend who just had a baby, and still had a ton left to put in yet another container in the fridge for lunches this week.