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.

Next Up: Something with Broccoli

As you may have noticed, due to the holiday on Monday, Tuesday's video was published on Wednesday, which means that Friday's video will post on Saturday. Stay tuned!

Coconut Cream French Toast – It Only Sounds Like Pie

I try not to do recipe names that sound way better than they taste, but I went with coconut cream French toast anyway. I didn’t think “coconut French toast” did this justice, and while certainly not pie-like, the flavor profile was kind of close, and I was very pleased with the results.

I was debating whether to coat the soaked bread with raw coconut, and toast it while the slices were frying in the butter, but decided it would be smarter to do it separately. That way we get perfect golden-brown flakes, without having to risk it getting too dark in the pan.

By the way, I can’ t stress how important it is to not use fresh bread. The drier the bread, the better the French toast, since you’ll be absorbing the maximum amount of our creamy coconut batter. So, the next time you have half a loaf of bread leftover from a dinner, slice it up, and leave it out overnight to dry.

If you want to cheat, you can lightly toast fresh bread beforehand, which, after cooling, will sort of simulate stale bread. Either way, I really hope you give this coconut cream French toast recipe a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for two portions of 3 half-slices of bread:

3 thick slices very stale French or Italian bread (cut in half to make 6 pieces)

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1/3 cup coconut milk (do not use low-fat)

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

pinch freshly grated nutmeg

3 tablespoons butter for frying

2 tablespoons toasted coconut flakes

maple syrup, fresh mango, and lime to garnish

Next Up: Something Different with Stale Bread