Broccoli and roasted garlic soup

A clean and creamy soup that’s a sure way to make the best of your greens. Broccoli is one of those greens that we all probably hated as kids, I know I did. Ironically today, this pastel bowl with flecks of green is one of my go-to soups and makes for a lovely light lunch. For any of you garlic lovers out there, trust me, the roasted garlic is an added bonus. With everyone going crazy about eating green, this soup makes a great start for anyone attempting a switch to eating healthy. It’s green, simple, nutritious and packed full of flavour!

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes (Another 40 if roasting the garlic)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium sized broccoli
• 1 large white onion
• 1 small potato
• 3-4 large cloves of roasted garlic (Note: This takes a good 40 minutes in the oven, so I’d suggest making it in advance and storing it in the fridge)
• 1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
• Mixed seeds, for topping (melon, flax, poppy etc.)
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

METHOD

To make the roasted garlic: 

Roasted garlic has a strong aroma, a soft, caramelised texture and is something you can never have too much of. It has the power to uplift any savoury dish that needs a huge hit of flavour. You can make this ahead of time and simply store it in your fridge or freezer ready to be used in soups, casseroles or simply on a slice of bruschetta!

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Start with a whole head of garlic, get rid of most of the peel and leave the cloves intact. Trim about a 1/4 inch off the top of the bulb of garlic so as to expose the garlic to the heat.

Drizzle 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil over the top and throughly rub and let the oil sink into the bulb. Cover the garlic in aluminium foil and slow roast in the oven for about 35-40 minutes.

Note: You could add any herbs such as thyme, oregano, rosemary to your garlic pod as well along with the olive oil, this adds another dimension of flavour to any dish you add it to.)

Check on your garlic in the oven after 40minutes to see if the centre of the bulb is soft or else leave it in the oven a while longer until it turns soft and deepens in colour.

To make the soup:

Start by chopping the onion and potato. Prepare the broccoli by cutting it up into florets and chop the stalk into smaller pieces, tossing out the end bits. Most people choose to discard the stalk, but it does have flavour and soups are the perfect way to make use of the whole vegetable.

It doesn’t really matter here if your knife skills aren’t as good, mine aren’t great either but remember it’s all going to be blended eventually.

In a large saucepan, sauté your onions until golden, add in the broccoli, potato and just enough stock to cover the broccoli. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the potato is cooked through, squeeze in the cloves of roasted garlic. With the help of a food processor or an immersion blender, purée the contents of the pan.

Season to taste.

Serve in a bowl and top with caramelised onions, mixed seeds or spicy kale crisps. You can find the recipe here: Superfood snack bowls: Kale chips

PRESSURE POINTS

This ones a pretty easy to follow recipe, so you can’t really go wrong at all!

If you give this recipe a go, I’d love to see how it turned out. Leave a comment below and share your pictures on Instagram using the tag #thecookbooklife!

Stay healthy!

Nikita xx

 

 

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