Best Ever Broccoli Soup

Though I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen these days, I do enjoy the challenge of combining fresh, home-grown vegies from the garden with whatever is in the pantry and fridge. At the moment, broccoli is producing in abundance, both in my tank beds and Rodney's aquaponics system. We have eaten broccoli pasta, broccoli frittata and boiled broccoli as a side vegie. Today I decided to make broccoli soup for lunch. It is quite possibly the best soup I've ever made.

Also available from the garden were parsley, green capsicums and celery.

This is how I combined them with a few other ingredients to make this super soup.  

I tend not to use stock very often: homemade stock is very time-consuming to make, and I've already told you I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen any more, and bought stock is horrendously high in salt, even the so-called salt-reduced varieties. However, this time I had a small amount, about half a cup, of very full-flavoured chicken stock (actually the cooking juices) leftover from a chicken dish we had a few days ago. Apart from this, the bulk of the liquid I used was milk, Zymil because of lactose problems. I'm sure soy or rice milk would be fine, and almond milk would add its own unique flavour for those who enjoy it. In fact, I nearly used it instead of Zymil.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 large heads of broccoli: separate the thick stalks from the top sections and chop them roughly,
break the heads into florets, keeping both parts separate
6 (smallish) stalks celery, sliced thinly: keep a few of the leafy tops and chop them roughly
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 green capsicum, chopped
2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
1 litre milk, your choice (plus a slosh or two extra if mixture is too thick)
2 potatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 cup strongly flavoured stock, optional
I did not add any salt and don't think it needed any, but add a teaspoon if you like, especially if you don't add any stock.

In a large saucepan put the oil, chopped broccoli stalks, celery, onion, garlic and capsicum. Stir-fry until just becoming tender. Add half the milk, bring to the boil and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Add broccoli florets, potato and the remaining milk. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add chopped parsley and celery tops and cook another 5 to 10 minutes. The potato should be tender and the broccoli beginning to fall apart.

When vegies are cooked, vitamise mixture to a thick slurry. This is when you might need to add extra milk and the stock, if using it. Taste soup and add salt if you need to.

Reheat before serving. Add a swish of plain yoghurt to each bowl, if you like.

This soup is hearty, healthy and tastes heavenly.