Absolutely souper
It may seem hard to believe, but before I started university I didn't really eat vegetables. I thought they were pretty icky, all in all. And whilst this no longer is the case, due to gentle prodding from Footnote and the way of growing up, vegetables do sometimes seem too much effort. Thus it was that I discovered the unhappy case of the broccoli a week past its sell-by date in the fridge. Thankfully, it was only just starting to go a little grey and squidgy in a few areas, so it was still useable, though not in the usual way. Cue the plan of soup!
Soup is awesome. Soup is the magic of the kitchen made real, where normally unpalatable ingredients are cooked (and sometimes blended) to produce something hearty, warming, and generally highly satisfying. And the thing about soup is that it doesn't have one defined taste, one defined way of seasoning or texture. It can be anything you want it to be.
So, the broccoli was made into a spicy blended soup. The basic soup base to a thick soup (the sort that will usually be blended to a smooth consistency) is formed from frying onions in some butter/oil, peeling and chopping up a few potatoes and adding them, then adding a quantity of stock. Add the main ingredient/s of your soup to the bubbling pot (although potato soup is wonderful and awesome, and is the Best Thing Ever when combined with small cubes of blue cheese and chopped up sausage). Allow stuff to cook and then after 20-25 minutes or so, blend. Add cream/creme fraiche/cheese/seasoning/lemon juice. Stir. Your soup will keep for a while *and* (this is the best bit) will taste better as each day passes! Truly, soup is the food of the gods.
For the broccoli soup in particular, I added Thai seven spice to the frying onions, then after it was blended I added lime juice and yoghurt. I think the yoghurt may have been a mistake, but both L and I had large bowlfuls so it wasn't totally a disaster. Anyway, experiment. Soup is what you make it.
Soup is awesome. Soup is the magic of the kitchen made real, where normally unpalatable ingredients are cooked (and sometimes blended) to produce something hearty, warming, and generally highly satisfying. And the thing about soup is that it doesn't have one defined taste, one defined way of seasoning or texture. It can be anything you want it to be.
So, the broccoli was made into a spicy blended soup. The basic soup base to a thick soup (the sort that will usually be blended to a smooth consistency) is formed from frying onions in some butter/oil, peeling and chopping up a few potatoes and adding them, then adding a quantity of stock. Add the main ingredient/s of your soup to the bubbling pot (although potato soup is wonderful and awesome, and is the Best Thing Ever when combined with small cubes of blue cheese and chopped up sausage). Allow stuff to cook and then after 20-25 minutes or so, blend. Add cream/creme fraiche/cheese/seasoning/lemon juice. Stir. Your soup will keep for a while *and* (this is the best bit) will taste better as each day passes! Truly, soup is the food of the gods.
For the broccoli soup in particular, I added Thai seven spice to the frying onions, then after it was blended I added lime juice and yoghurt. I think the yoghurt may have been a mistake, but both L and I had large bowlfuls so it wasn't totally a disaster. Anyway, experiment. Soup is what you make it.