Slow-cooked Broccoli Soup

 

Slow-cooked
Broccoli
Soup









"To every season, change, change, change," Bob Dylan tells us. But if your parents were like my parents, they preferred the Birds version. 

The seasons have twice-changed since this photo was taken and this meal consumed. Mr. Broccoli--standing mature and proud before you--withstood the early snow of October and November. He was the last veggie we reaped from our little garden in Rochester, New York and it is fitting to think of him again, now two seasons on, as we inch toward planting season.

The recipe, adapted from Alice Waters, requires a word of caution and a small leap of faith. One hour seems like a long time to cook broccoli. One hour seems as though it is a mistake. You'd think one hour of cooking broccoli will take it past the point of bright, verdant, and tasty and wrench your effort into some gley, nasty place. Trust dear reader, somehow, and we're not sure how ourselves, it goes gray and then bounces back to green.

Once the bounce back occurs the broccoli can be used in at least two ways, both delicious. The first way is as an alternative to pesto with pasta. In the second, the broccoli is blended to make a smooth soup, begging for some grated cheese, toast points charred beneath the broiler, or grilled cheese from a cast iron skillet better yet.

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  On low heat:

  + Glug(s) of olive oil

  + 6 cloves garlic, minced

  + ½ tsp to 2 tsp red pepper flakes

 
  To pot add:

+ 1 head broccoli, cut into small florets and stem, peeled and sliced thinly

+ 1 cup water

Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer (slow it down now).

 
Cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add more water if it gets too dry. After an hour it will be mushy, eat as is as a sauce for pasta or rice.

 



OR puree with more water to make a soup.

 





Add the juice of half a lemon and some grated hard cheese if you so desire. Taste for salt and pepper. We had our soup with grilled cheddar cheese sandwiches, highly recommended.

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We opted this night for the soup. It tastes best as a prelude to a few rounds of backgammon played on a board made by Mr. Nick Allgood. Although we made the soup in an attempt to extend fall into winter, I think it will work just as well as we all call in the spring over winter's contrary din. 

Today is cold and soaked through. Rain meets woodsmoke for an undifferentiated sky. It is a day that makes me pine for those I love in western Washington. Good Sunday and much love. Muah.
m/h/r & m/m/d