Trick-or-Broccoli
Broccoli by La Grande Farmers’ Market
Every once in a while I happen upon a list of “superfoods” and am reassured that I actually enjoy so many things that are good for me (just to balance out all the things I love that aren’t). It’s also reassuring that there are viable blender options for yogurt, honey, dark chocolate, pumpkin, walnuts, oats, blueberries, avocado…so it is possible to get the nutrients you need even when you can’t chew the foods they come in.
But there is one superfood on many of those lists that I never, ever seek out, in any form. In an odd, reversed life course from most people, I actually liked broccoli as a kid and outgrew my taste for it as I got older. Dan, on the other hand, has never liked it and, until a couple weeks ago, maintained a lifelong determination not to try. You can just imagine how thrilled we both were to receive three heads of the stuff in our late October CSA share.
Three things deserve credit for how well this Halloween meal — Dan called it “Zombie Brains” but you can feel free not to — turned out:
1. Cheese. It may well be the reason I ate broccoli in my youth.
2. Bacon. If bacon is a food your favorite broccoli-hater eats, you would be remiss not to deploy a little — or a lot — in tricking him or her, especially since it’s all going in the blender, anyway, and it’s the flavor that counts.
3. Spices. I have Luke to thank for suggesting that broccoli and curry are friends. You can dial the curry and cayenne up or down, depending on what you like, but it needs something.
So grab yourself the following:
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 ribs of celery, finely chopped
- 3 potatoes, diced (with skins on, since they were organic)
- 2 small-medium sized heads of broccoli, chopped (stems included, but peeled)
- 6 slices of bacon, chopped
- olive oil
- 4 cups of chicken stock
- curry powder
- cayenne pepper
- dried basil
- cheddar cheese, grated
And then:
Cook the bacon in the soup pot until browned, then set aside on a paper towel to drain and let cool. Drain off all but about a tablespoon of the bacon fat.
Add a little olive oil to the bacon fat that’s already in the soup pot, then add the onion and sautee for about a minute to soften, followed by the garlic and celery. Let it all soften for about five minutes. Add the potatoes, a shake or two of cayenne pepper, salt to taste, and about half a teaspoon each of basil and curry powder (or a little more, to taste). Give everything a turn of the spoon and let cook for a minute before adding the chicken stock. Bring it all to a boil, then simmer, covered for twenty minutes.
Add the broccoli to the pot — you may not get it all submerged in the liquid, but that’s ok, it will still steam just fine — and cover again to let simmer for another twenty minutes. Make sure the potatoes and broccoli are both decently tender, then add the bacon back to the mix for another five minutes. Blend to desired consistency, either in batches in the blender, or with an immersion blender. To get this through wires, be sure the broccoli florets are fully blended, adding additional broth as needed.
Serve with grated cheddar, or, blend the grated cheese into the soup if you need to get it up the straw.
Due to a fourth element to which I may owe credit for this soup’s success, there is no photo of this concoction. I’m told that Dan’s Aunt Helen was a wonderful cook and a miracle worker when it came to feeding him as a kid. Perhaps she was watching over me as I made this, because Dan not only ate and liked it — and he does not fake his way through foods he dislikes — he finished off the entire batch before I got around to taking a picture. If that’s not both trick and treat, I don’t know what is.
