Creamy Broccoli Soup

This is a straightforward application of a realsimple recipe,doubled, and made with our chicken-vegetable stock and water. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 bunch broccoli, forets roughly chopped and stems peeled and sliced.
1 large russet potato
sea salt
black pepper
2 ounces sharp white cheddar
2 cups vegetable broth

1. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and red pepper (if using) and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, 4-6 minutes






2. Add the broth, broccoli, potato, 2 CUPS WATER, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simer, covered, until the vegetables are very tender, 18-20 minutes.





3. Blend ingredients. Return to dutch oven. Top servings with cheddar cheese. Croutons would be nice...

Chicken Stock, Mondo Vegetable style

Thanks to a surfeit of leftover vegetables, including five rubbery carrots, a pile of green onions that couldn't make it into green onion cakes, and two full tins of celery and carrot leftovers, we have some serious vegetable-chicken stock coming up tonight. The picture here is intended to give some idea of how much vegetable went in. In both of my last stocks, one yogurt tin of vegetables was all we had to go in. In the first stock (if memory serves), I added more water. In the second, I reduced longer off of less water, and this produced the gelatin that made for a thicker chicken soup.


This time, I'm light on the bones, and so the stock will be a vegetable-chicken stock at best. The bones of one five pound roast is all I had to offer up. I did not rinse the carcass, which turned out to be a mistake. I pulled loads of scum and fat off the top. This is the most water I've put into a stock yet, as indicated to the left here.

Simmer took about one hour, although it was up and down given that the temperature was hard to regulate. (definitely in need of a new stockpot.)


After simmer, added ice. skimmed the last round of fat (one and one-half Kozicki mugs, by the way). The reduction is still going after addition of vegetables, but I'm guessing we're looking at two plus hours for this. It's already 10:30 and I'm reaching my stock tolerance, but I insist on getting more flavor out of the stock.

Of course, what I'm missing is any kind of serious aromatic. I briefly debated throwing in a handful of cilantro, but decided against it in the end. Two bay leafs will have to suffice.

UPDATE:

The stock turns out beautifully every time, no matter what. I do think that some serious spices might help (peppercorns, anise, cloves, real bay leaves, etc.), but this makes for a nice stock, light on the chicken flavor, big on vegetable flavor. And all my vegetable soups get this added savory richness.

chicken stock to chicken soup

Two experiments with chicken stock, which has become a new favorite in the house. First stock was from one roaster, tin of discarded vegetables and water enough. Second stock started with less water and simmered longer, allowing for a strong reduction--nearly 1/3 of already reduced water content.

The result was 6 cups to 2. The 2 cups were extremely potent. Because I was planning to use it right away, I left it overnight in the fridge. It came out gelatinous. Made soup two nights later out of leftover chicken breast, two bags of remainder egg noodles (not sure how much was there), some celery and carrots. Could have used parsley, and potentially something other than salt to spice it up, but am not sure what at present. First attempt at soup labeled a success.

UPDATE: the reduced stock doesn't work super well for soups, unless you like it thick. More broth would have been better. In future, reserve reduced stock for sauces to intensify flavor without too much sodium addition.