The post Cream of Broccoli Soup appeared first on CIA Foodies.
]]>Ingredients
- 2 lb broccoli, separated into stems and florets, stems peeled
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 leek, white and light green parts, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 6 cups vegetable stock or chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, warm
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- Kosher salt, as needed
- Freshly ground black pepper, as needed
Directions
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Reserve 1 cup of the nicest-looking small broccoli florets for garnish. Coarsely chop the remaining broccoli florets and stems.
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Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, leek, celery, and chopped broccoli and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is translucent, 6 to 8 minutes.
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Add the flour and cook to make a blond roux, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon until the flour is well-coated and the mixture is lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Gradually add the stock or broth to the pot, whisking well to work out any lumps. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook until flavorful and thickened, about 45 minutes, stirring frequently and skimming as necessary.
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Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water. Add the reserved broccoli florets to the boiling water and cook just until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the florets from the pot and plunge them into the bowl of ice water. When cool, drain and reserve.
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Strain the soup and reserve both the solids and the stock or broth. Purée the solids in a blender or food processor, adding broth as needed to facilitate puréeing. Combine the purée with enough of the reserved broth to achieve the consistency of heavy cream. Strain the soup through a fine mesh sieve, if desired.
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Return the soup to the pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove the soup from the heat and stir in the cream and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
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Serve immediately, garnished with the reserved florets.
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]]>The post Grill Anything (Yes, Even Pasta!) appeared first on CIA Foodies.
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By the end of this summer, I will be able to write a book on how to cook exclusively outside.
As I’ve mentioned, probably too often, I live in Texas, where it is currently HOT. My house is small, but tragically under-cooled in the summer, so when I turn on the stove or oven, it gets too stuffy to manage—and I move the kitchen outside.
For the last few years, I’ve only had a charcoal grill, because I believe the general consensus in the grilling universe is that charcoal is better than gas, and I am a rule follower. But this year, we invested in a gas grill because, cool or not, charcoal is just not an efficient way to grill nightly. It’s a big process, and one we just weren’t committed to on most weeknights.
Now that we have a gas grill, we are using it literally every night, and I have started exploring cooking inside recipes outside.
It’s going great.
I’m coming to realize that I can cook literally anything on a grill if I think of it as an outdoor stove and oven all-in-one, which expands my summer dinner repertoire beyond grilled veggies and steaks. We don’t need special tools to cook on a grill, despite what the folks at fancy cooking stores have made us think all of these years. We just need cast-iron or stainless steel pots and pans (the grill can get too hot for most non-stick) and an adventurous spirit.
That’s why this week, when my husband asked for roasted sausage and broccoli (a la this recipe) over pasta, I said, “Light the grill!” I used my stainless roasting pan for the veggies and sausage and my usual pasta-boiling pot. Nothing ever touched the grill directly, but we were still grilling!
Because I was replicating the heat of the oven, I kept the lid closed and the heat cranked to medium-high. The thermometer on my grill indicated that we were cooking at about 400°F for most of the time, which was just right. My veggies and sausage cooked evenly and browned nicely, and actually in less time than they would usually take in the oven.
Here’s what I used to make about 5 servings:
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, grated
- 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 heads broccoli, florets trimmed and stems thinly sliced
- 1 lb bulk Italian sausage or links, removed from casings
For serving:
- 1 lb pasta, optional – we used capellini (the broccoli mix has enough sauce to coat the pasta). You can serve this with pasta like we did, if you like, or grains, toasted bread, roasted potatoes, or just a green salad on the side.
Directions
- Preheat a grill to medium high (about 400°F).
- In a large bowl, combine the garlic, mustard, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, then mix to combine.
- Add the broccoli and toss to coat. Transfer the broccoli to a roasting pan. Drop pieces of sausage, about 2 tbsp each, onto the broccoli, nestling it in and around the florets.
- Place the roasting pan directly on the grill grates and close the lid. Roast, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is tender and browned and the sausage is cooked through, about 25 minutes.
- Toss the mixture with cooked pasta, if using.
- Your grill might get hotter than your stove or oven would, so keep an eye on whatever you’re cooking and adjust the heat, as needed. If your grill has levels, take advantage of your ability to move delicate items away from the heat source.
- Never put glass on the grill. Only use cast-iron or stainless steel pans that are suitable for high-heat cooking.
- You can sauté on your grill, so don’t be afraid to create a quick pan sauce to go alongside your more traditional grilled items.
- I bought a few disposable aluminum trays in assorted sizes, which, if you treat them right, don’t have to be single-use. I pull them out when I need to save space on the grill (the loaf pan size comes in handy) or don’t have a grill-safe pan to suit my needs.
– Posted by Laura, DISH editor
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