Saturday, January 7, 2017

Broccoli Soup au Gratin – Thin to Win!

It was one of those weeks. The holiday pushed me off schedule by a day; they’re doing construction next door, which means I can’t record at certain times; and if that wasn’t enough, this amazing looking soup was a total disaster – a temporary disaster – but a disaster nonetheless.

The good news is, I saved it in the end, and hopefully we’ll all be better for it. Turns out a cheesy crouton, like one you’d enjoy on a French onion soup, is a terrible idea, if your soup is extra thick, and bordering on a purée.

I came close to tossing everything, and ordering pizza, but what kind of example would that set? So I thinned it out, passed it through a fire mesh strainer, and gave it another try. This made it significantly better, and the ingredient amounts seen below have been adjusted, so you should get a texture similar to my final version.

I’m not sure when/if I’ll try this again, but if I do, I’ll use small croutons, so I can eat it without drenching all the cheesy bread with the first few bites. While I officially hope you give this a try soon, I secretly hope you experiment with better soup choices to use this potentially great technique. Enjoy!  


Ingredients for 6 portions:
2 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
1 large onion, diced
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus probably more to taste
3 cloves minced garlic
2 pounds broccoli, trimmed
5 to 6 cups broth, or as needed to adjust texture
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper to taste
cayenne to taste
6 round crispy croutons the same size as your crock (or 3 cups of little salad croutons)
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar, gruyere, or combination of the two
*Note: Be sure to adjust with more broth if need be, as well as pass the soup through a fine mesh strainer to achieve a finer texture.

15 comments:

bdwilcox said...

You are the C. Everett Koop of your failed broccoli soup.

Unknown said...

Hello Chef John, try not pureeing all the broccoli. Reserve 1/3 before blending then add back. This will give the crouton something to rest on, much like the onions in French Onion Soup.

Unknown said...

John John John, love ya babe, but the solution to this one is so easy and you missed it. Reserve some of the broccoli before you puree it. Then once the soup is smooth add the broccoli back in and voila! No more sinking feeling! Try it, you'll love it. Enjoy! Seriously though, love ya.

Unknown said...

John John John, love ya babe, but the solution to this one is so easy and you missed it. Reserve some of the broccoli before you puree it. Then once the soup is smooth add the broccoli back in and voila! No more sinking feeling! Try it, you'll love it. Enjoy! Seriously though, love ya.

Unknown said...

I want to try this recipe, because it looks incredible- but I'm cooking for people who cannot eat dairy. Would it still work without the heavy cream?

Unknown said...

I want to try this recipe, but I'm cooking for people who cannot have dairy, would it work without the heavy cream?

Chris said...

Well first I'd nit-pick about the pronunciation of the french word "au". It's not spoken as "au" (or aw as Chef John seems to) but more like "ou" or simply "o", more like it was Irish as in O'Grady.
Right from the get-go, as he put in the broccoli, I'm sitting here thinking "that's gonna be WAY too thick, doh". And that slice of bread is gonna be hard to eat with a spoon, again doh. Why not use delicious Bluetons or some other cheese crouton?
Why not just re-shoot the vid and not look like an amateur? Or am I missing some sort of point?

Phil said...

I really, really appreciate your honesty. So many Chefs/Cooks will prepare something and no matter what the outcome, ooh and aah (sic) about how wonderful and delicious it is. Sometimes things don't turn out like we planned, and it's alright. We learn from our mistakes.

beemo said...

You're still the greatest English-speaking culinary pedagogue!

Unknown said...

Every day I see your recipe. Please help me to share his recipe. Thank you

juling said...

I made the soup twice, cause it's sooo goood, BUT! I added some carrots (first time I did not have enough broccoli) and that was so good I'm gonna continue doing that. I'm making it today and checked the recipe to see what to by from the grocery store. Where is the carrots, I thought. Ah. I added that my self, I remembered. Thanks, John!

Robinson said...

Broccoli is healthy and its great source of vitamin C & K. I love broccoli and I always try to add broccoli in my every meal. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe with us. Last Sunday I tried Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry recipe it tastes yumm...

Food fan said...

Looks yummy! Can't wait to make this soup. You are a blast to listen to!!!

Unknown said...

How can you not like ALL of Chef John's recipes. Even the ones I thought I would hate I actually like. Some I even love. Love the dry delivery commentary of recipes AND what a ground breaker this guy is. He started this 12 freakin years ago. I am finding recipes as far back as 10 years ago that I think are "amazing" as chef John would say.

Thea said...

Fabulous! My kid is a stupendously picky eater. But I know he likes salt. Muahahaha! So I attacked this recipe like a Mom with a Mission (by which I mean to say I left out the cayenne and the nutmeg), slopped it all into the ol' NINJA blender (watch your fingers, and I'm not even kidding), and hit frappe! While that was going, I shredded some sharp cheddar cheese as fine as I could manage, and put some into the bottom of a couple of porcelain bowls. Once I heated the soup back up to simmer, I simply ladled it into the bowls and stirred to melt the cheese. My kid lapped that stuff up like a Hoover vacuum cleaner on full suck! I am soooo grateful to you, Chef John!