Broccoli Cheese Soup

Perfect for one of these cold rainy winter nights - for March SRC
Source: All Day I Dream About Food blog, originally from Cook’s Illustrated

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5 – the most difficult part is using an immersion blender)

Ingredients
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter (100 cal)
• 1 lb broccoli (150 cal)
• 5 green onions (10 cal)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (5 cal)
• 1 tsp dry mustard powder
• pinch of cayenne
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 cups water
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup chicken or beef broth (20 cal)
• 1 cup frozen spinach (40 cal)
• 1 ½ oz sharp cheddar, grated (170 cal)
• ½ oz parmesan, grated + more to sprinkle before serving (60 cal)
• ¼ tsp pepper (or adjust to taste)
Total 4 servings, 555 calories, 140 cal / serving

Directions
1. Chop the broccoli into 1 inch pieces, use both the florets and the stems. Finely chop the green onions.
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat butter over medium high heat. Add broccoli, onion, garlic, mustard, cayenne and salt. Stir frequently and cook until fragrant, about 6 minutes.
3. Add water and baking soda and bring to a simmer. Cook until broccoli is very soft, about 20 minutes.
4. Add broth and spinach and bring to a simmer.
5. Add cheeses and blend soup with an immersion blender (alternatively, you can transfer soup to a blender and blend in two batches).
6. Adjust consistency of soup to your liking with remaining water (I found it didn't need any more).
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Afterthoughts
• This is a great soup, we really liked it! Rich consistency, yet not too greasy; all the ingredients can be distinctly felt, yet they blend together very nicely; filling, yet not heavy.
• I made small adjustments to the original recipe; primarily I used a little more spinach and used green onions instead of regular ones. I don’t think these changes made a big difference.
• I was very puzzled by the addition of baking soda. Carolyn mentioned that it was meant to speed up the cooking of broccoli. I did a little more research on baking soda in cooking, and it seems that people add it to greens to preserve the colors, and add it to creamy soups to prevent milk from curdling. Interesting…
• About All Day I Dream About Food – this is a wonderful food blog. I have been following it for ages now, and it’s getting better and better. Carolyn publishes many gluten free and low-carb dessert recipes. She also has a lot of delicious savory posts. I first wanted to make her chilled avocado soup , but it’s a little chilly for that, so I made a warmer soup and her chicken Adobo, which also turned out super yummy!
• About SRC – it stands from a Secret Recipe Club, each month you are assigned a food blog, you choose a recipe from it, post it on a predetermined reveal date and add your link to a blog hop, where all the participant post their results. This is a very neat idea of Amanda Formaro.