Mega Broccoli

 

I know some people just looooooove broccoli soup, but it never sounds good to me. Never, that is, until tonight. 

Turns out, if you tell me broccoli soup comes with pistachio butter on top, I’m going to make it immediately. You read that correctly: pistachio butter. And I don’t mean it like almond butter or peanut butter or cookie butter (probably good as well), I mean chopped up pistachios IN butter.  And if you know me you know I love butter like Cincinnati loves beer, like Kanye loves Kim, like some weirdos people love broccoli soup. 

Logan's first question when I told him what we were having was "is there cheese in it?" to which I responded, "blech, NO!" I, of course, love cheese, and majorly mistrust anyone who doesn't. I've just never been a fan of cheese with broccoli. Why cover up that naturally, uh, broccoli-y taste? Apparently I made a broccoli-cheese soup I didn't hate in 2011, but it didn't leave any kind of mark on my memory, nor did it change my deeply ingrained aversion to the thought of it. 

Broccoli and butter, though? Sign me up, duh.

And look how simple this baby is! After yesterday's elaborate construction, it was nice to make something so easy. It's a joy to take a few easy-peasy ingredients and turn them into something completely different. The soup on its own was perfectly nice--shockingly smooth and creamy, even though there's no cream (yeah, there's butter). The pistachio butter takes it to a special place--it looks pretty stinkin' fancy. I can imagine serving a wee bowl of this as a lovely little starter for a dinner party, for instance. It doesn't just look pretty, though--it adds quite a bit in the way of texture and zing. (Zing!)

 

I served this up with a simple salad of butter lettuce with avocado and tomato and a sprouted brown rice and almond pilaf (a.k.a. what I could throw together without going to the store). It was mega satisfying.

 

This afternoon, Cincinnati had the funniest snow. It fell in clumps the size of silver dollars, and made the entire sky white. How could I not be happy about eating soup on a day like today? Looks like nobody's got a case of the Mondays over here. (oof.)

In related news: Soupruary isn't just for Cincinnati! My friend Aron is going strong with Soupruary Boston and my friend Mick's soups always put me to shame -- check out his HGTV gardens blog (Spiced pumpkin & shrimp? Dude. DUDE.)

P.s. Logan totally spilled rice all over the couch blanket.

Broccoli Soup with Lemon-Pistachio-Chive Butter

adapted from Radically Simple by Rozanne Gold

Serves 4

GET THIS STUFF

4 T unsalted butter at room temperature

3 T unsalted shelled pistachios

1/2 t snipped chives

zest of 1 lemon

1 1/2 lb broccoli

4 large garlic cloves

1/3 c chopped basil

juice from 1/2 lemon 

DO THIS WITH IT 

Toast pistachios in a small skillet over medium heat for about three minutes, then coarsely chop.

Mix 3 T of the butter in a small bowl with pistachios, chives, lemon zest and a pinch of sea salt (leave salt out if your pistachios are salted.

On a piece of wax paper or parchment, form a small log out of the butter, then roll it in the paper and stick it in the freezer.

Chop the broccoli florets off of the stalks and set them aside.

Chop off the bottom inch of stalks and discard.

Peel the remainder of the stalks and dice. 

Place chopped stalks in a pot with garlic cloves, 6 cups of water and 1 t salt.

Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.

Add broccoli florets to pot, cover, and cook for 8 minutes.

Add basil to pot, cover, and cook for 2 minutes.

Strain broccoli over a bowl, reserving cooking liquid. 

Return broccoli, garlic and basil to pot, along with 3 cups of reserved cooking liquid, and blend using an immersion blender until very smooth (alternately, use a food processor or blender).

Mix in remaining 1 T butter and lemon juice. 

Remove pistachio butter from freezer, and top each bowl of soup with a few thin, delicious and beautiful slices.