Roasted Broccoli Soup #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

Brrrr, it’s cold here on the windblown prairie of central Illinois, and soup is just the thing. This soup is delicious and the kind of recipe that lets you add and subtract ingredients depending on what you have in your kitchen or what you have a hankering for. Add another potato, cheddar cheese, and bacon and it’ll taste like a loaded baked potato. Sauté sausage with the onion and garlic and you’ll feel hearty enough to go out and shovel the walks.

We had delicious za’atar feta scones with our bowls of soup. MM-mmm.

 

Roasted Broccoli Soup

Adapted from Melissa Clark in The New York Times.

 

Ingredients

 1/4 cup olive oil, divided

2 pounds broccoli, separated into small florets, stems peeled and roughly chopped

2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large onion, diced

5 or 6 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 pound potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (about 1/8 of an inch)

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Grated Parmesan

 

Directions

Heat oven to 450 degrees F.

Divided between two sheet pans, toss prepared broccoli with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil (1 tablespoon per sheet). Roast the broccoli until parts of it begin to brown deeply and caramelize, 20 to 30 minutes (or longer if the broccoli is quite wet from rinsing). If your pans need to be one above the other in the oven, rotate them halfway through roasting.  

In a large soup kettle, over medium-low, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onions and garlic, black and red peppers, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. 

Cook until the onions and garlic are soft and translucent (or until they begin to caramelize if you want a deeper flavor). Add the potato to the pot with 4 cups of water and the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot, and cook until the potato is just tender, 10 to 15 minutes. 

Add the roasted broccoli and cook until tender, another 10 to 15 minutes.  

Add the lemon zest and roughly puree the soup with an immersion blender, leaving some small chunks for texture. Stir in the lemon juice. Serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

 

💕  click here for a free, printable pdf of this recipe  💕

 

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book 3 in the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries!

On North Carolina’s Ocracoke Island, Maureen Nash sells exquisite seashells to locals and tourists—with Bonny the shop cat and the ghost of a Welsh pirate for company. And when needed, she steps in to help the police solve a murder . . .

Dr. Irving Allred is boasting around town that he’s about to get his hands on an authentic haunted sword. But minutes after Maureen hears the story, a woman walks into the Moon Shell, sword in hand. She found it while walking her bulldog on the beach—and its blade is stained with what looks like blood. Looks like it’s time to call the sheriff’s department.

Allred is furious that his prize is now in police custody—and even more agitated that an unknown buyer was trying to outbid him. He’s convinced the sword will lead him straight to the ghosts he’s been hunting. He’s not the only one on the Outer Banks who’s been searching for spirits, though. An odd visitor also showed up at Maureen’s shop claiming the ability to sense them . . . though somehow she didn’t seem to notice Maureen’s spectral friend hanging about.

When a man who’d been camping nearby is found cut down along the shore, Maureen starts providing some unofficial assistance to Captain Rob Tate by digging into the island’s maritime history. But it’s not the only mystery she’s facing—because the shop’s resident ghost is seeing ghosts himself . . .

 Happy reading!

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Instagram or Bluesky.