Broccoli, Cheese, and Potato Soup

For the past few days, I have been craving something hearty for dinner.  I had a wonderful dinner on palm Sunday with friends and family and there was pasta, lamb, potatoes, and a myriad of other things.  For days after that, I just wanted something simple and filling.

Yesterday at work I saw a coworker eating cream of broccoli soup and I realized it was just what I was looking for.  I perused the interwebs and found this recipe.

I adapted it and came up with the following:

1 cup of Chopped onion
4 Garlic cloves, minced
Butter
5 Medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups of Milk
1 cup of Boiling water
4 Chicken bouillon cubes
3 cups of Broccoli
1 1/2 - 2 cups of Shredded cheddar cheese
Ground black pepper

The quantities are assumed, not necessary - I pretty much used whatever I had leftover.  We had a bag of squishy, sprouting, not-quite-gone-bad potatoes, so I just threw them all in the soup.  I had a piece of a block of cheddar cheese left, so I shredded it all.

Throw the onions, garlic, and butter into a pot and start to brown.  If you have a microwave, warm the three cups of milk.  I don't have a microwave, so I just poured the milk in with the garlic and onions once they had started to brown.  Once the milk is all frothy and hot, add the boiling water, chicken bouillon cubes, and cubed potatoes.

Let the mixture simmer (on medium heat) for about ten minutes, then add the three cups of broccoli.  I used frozen broccoli, so I only added 4 cups of liquid; if you're using fresh broccoli, you can add more liquid if the soup seems too thick.

 

Please notice how I changed pots in the middle of making the soup.  I realized, after adding the potatoes, that my first pot might not be big enough to hold everything...

Let the broccoli simmer with the potato and broth mixture for another five or ten minutes, until the potatoes are tender.   Take the pot off the heat and, using a slotted spoon, remove the onions, potato cubes, and broccoli from the soup and transfer to a food processor or blender (or if you're a lucky person who has an immersion blender, just use that!)  I did this in three batches, as my 14 cup food processor wasn't big enough to hold all the soup.  The first two batches I pureed and returned to the broth, the third batch I simply mushed up a bit into smaller chunks to give the soup a bit of texture.

  

Stir the broth and puree mixture together again in the pot, add the cheddar cheese and pepper to taste, and you're done!  I was going to put it in a breadbowl, but I forgot to buy bread (or bread making) materials, so I survived with a bowl of soup topped with extra cheddar cheese.