Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup

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• ❤️ Why We like this broccoli and blue cheese soup 
• 🍰 What to Expect
• 📃 Ingredients for My Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup and Their Easy Substitutions
• ⌛ Hands-on Time and Equipment
• 📷 Step-by-Step Instructions
• 💡 Useful tips
• 🍽️ How to Serve Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup
• ❄️ How to Store and Reheat
• Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup

❤️ Why We like this broccoli and blue cheese soup 

• the soup is easy and quick to make (30 minutes)
• it's very creamy and super cheesy - a dream for all cheese lovers
• a great way to use cheese leftovers
• my son is not a big fan of broccoli, but he likes this soup 

🍰 What to Expect

This recipe is an adaptation of the classic broccoli and stilton soup, which is very popular in England, especially at the end of December and in January, as it's a great way to use leftover cheese from Christmas.

My goal was to keep the recipe simple with fewer ingredients (preferably staples in our kitchen), so I could make this comforting soup without a trip to the shop for missing components. 

In my modified version, there are 

• no potatoes
• no cream
• no leek
• no celery

 The broccoli taste isn't very strong, even though the recipe asks for a whole broccoli head; the prominent flavour and creaminess come from the blue cheese - English stilton or any other blue cheese you choose. 

You can dilute the soup with milk to make it milder and less pungent. 

Because I blend the soup, its texture is creamy and smooth; you can decide to crush the cook vegetables with a potato masher and have the soup with smaller or bigger pieces of broccoli instead. 

📃 Ingredients for My Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup and Their Easy Substitutions

• oil suitable for frying
• medium onion
• garlic
• fresh ginger (optional)
• medium broccoli
• vegetable stock (eventually chicken stock)
• blue cheese
• milk (optional)

Oil for frying
Traditional English recipes usually use butter for frying the onion. I prefer sunflower, rapeseed oil, or ghee (clarified butter), all with a higher smoking point.

Blue Cheese
There are many types of blue cheeses. My number one choice is the king of English cheese - stilton. Your best bet is to use local cheese, as stilton is popular in England, but it can be challenging to buy in other countries.

Here are a few other options: Italian Gorgonzola, French Roquefort, Danish Danablu (Danish Blue), Polish Rokpol or Czech Niva.

Stock
Prepare a litre of your favourite vegetable or chicken stock. It can be homemade or shop-bought but make sure it's of good quality. Its taste significantly impacts the soup flavour.

Note: The soup is vegetarian but not vegan as it contains dairy - milk and cheese. For the same reason, it's unsuitable for anyone allergic to lactose.

⌛ Hands-on Time and Equipment

The soup should take around 30 minutes from start to serving. It's a perfect option if you are in a hurry and looking for a quick, easy mid-week meal. 

The recipe method consists of three main steps: 

• the preparation (10 - 15 minutes)
• cooking (10 - 12 minutes)
• blending (2 minutes)

To make the soup, you need the following:  

• large cooking pot
• stand blender or immersion (hand-held) electric blender (in emergencies, the best alternative to an electric blender is a potato masher)

📷 Step-by-Step Instructions

Heat the oil and fry the onion until soft and slightly golden (do it in the same pot where you plan to cook the soup to save yourself more washing).

Add the finely chopped ginger and sliced garlic and fry for another minute.

Transfer the broccoli to the pot, pour in the stock, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and let the soup simmer for around 8 - 10 minutes.

Stir in crumbled blue cheese until it dissolves (it might take a couple more minutes).

Take the soup off the heat and blend it. You can keep it in the same pot if using an electric immersion blender, otherwise, transfer the soup to a stand mixer.

Once you have pureed the soup, taste it to determine if it needs any adjustments like diluting with milk or more seasoning.

💡 Useful tips

Careful with salt

Blue cheese is pretty salty, and the stock can contain lots of salt too. I recommend seasoning this soup after you blend it. Taste the soup first to determine how much more salt is needed.

Intense cheese taste

As ultimate cheese lovers, we like when the soup has a strong taste. You can always use less cheese or dilute the soup with around 200 millilitres of milk if you have more delicate tastebuds and prefer a less punchy soup.

Blending

I prefer using a stand blender to make the soup extra smooth. A heavy-duty stand blender has more power to produce a better creamy texture.

An immersion blender is another option, but the soup won't be as smooth as this type of blender is usually less powerful. It's not always a bad thing, though. It can even be someone's preference, after all.

Product recommendation: I can't be happier with our Vitamix blender. It is pricy, but it's quality that lasts. It blends the heck out of anything from raw vegetables and fruit, ice cubes for ice cream and even dry ingredients to make flour (almonds, oat, rice).

Tip: Blended soups are a great way to make your fussy child eat some vegetables. At least it worked for my son when he was little. His other favourites were Roasted Tomato Soup, Creamy Asparagus Soup or Cream of Cauliflower Soup.

🍽️ How to Serve Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup

To make the soup look fancy, crumble some blue cheese over the top and garnish it with ground black pepper and a squirt of cream balsamic vinegar. I occasionally serve the soup with golden-brown fried onion.

You can serve the meal as a starter or turn it into a main dish. To stretch it further, accompany it with a slice of bread, fresh baguette, or any other type of bread you like.

Tip: Toast the bread or put it under the grill (especially recommended if it's not very fresh). You can rub the toasted bread with fresh garlic and drizzle it with olive oil.

Our favourite combination is a crunchy grilled baguette with green pesto and melted blue cheese. It compliments the creamy soup and makes for a perfect, filling dinner.

❄️ How to Store and Reheat

Let the soup cool completely, and store the leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

I like using an airtight glass food container with a lid similar to these products on Amazon:

You can safely reheat the soup on the hob (best if reheating larger volumes in one go) or in the microwave (handy if reheating only one or two portions).

I'm not a big fan of freezing most of the soups (except for the broth), but you will find websites where they say it's safe to freeze broccoli and blue cheese soup.