Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup

My kids are on a broccoli kick. A few nights ago, they both refused everything else that I had on offer; Tito munched on a bowl of buttered broccoli like it was a bowl of popcorn while he was watching soccer with daddy. Lili ate her tiny broccoli florets by the fistful. So when it was time to decide what to make the little one for her first birthday, I went with something I hoped she’d love: broccoli cheese soup (and she did).

And when you google “broccoli cheese soup,” this Panera copycat recipe seems really popular. I’ve never lived close enough to be hooked on Panera, but it seems like there is a rather large contingent of people out there who would drive for miles in order to eat this soup; if that is not possible, they’re incredibly grateful to have a copycat recipe at their disposal.

This is an easy soup and you can moderate the fat content by how much cream/half-n-half/milk you use. Just be sure to not eliminate all the fat, because it’s the fat from the cream that helps create the emulsion that makes the cheese creamy; otherwise you might end up with a weird, separated, congealed and greasy-feeling soup. Otherwise, this is really straightforward and a great way for the family to get a few servings of veggies in a delicious meal!

Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 T  butter 1/2 medium onion, chopped 1/4 c  butter 1/4 c flour (I used chickpea flour, which I’ve found to be a great gluten-free substitute for wheat flour in soups; it doesn’t change the flavor or texture, and it adds a little protein boost!) 2 c half-and-half 2 c chicken stock 1/2 lb fresh broccoli, finely chopped 1 c carrot, finely chopped 1/4 t nutmeg 8 oz grated sharp cheddar cheese salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Saute onion in the 1 T butter over medium heat in a large pot. When it is soft and translucent, remove the onion from the pan and add the 1/4 c butter. Add the flour and stir constantly for 3-5 minutes. Whisk in the half-n-half and heat until there are no lumps, then add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the broccoli, carrots, onions and nutmeg. Cook over low heat another 20-25 minutes, until veggies are tender. Stir in the cheese until melted, salt and pepper to taste.

You can puree all or part of the soup in a blender (carefully), but I chopped the veggies finely enough that I liked the texture as-is.

Serve with a hearty bread; I used my No-Knead, Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread.

As a bonus, this made a nice “casserole” as leftovers; I heated it up with some leftover rotisserie chicken that I’d frozen and mixed in a little rice, and it was an instant complete meal!

#creambased #vegetable

Cheeseburger Soup (gluten-free, Velveeta-free)

You guys, this soup was such a pleasant surprise, although after making it, I can’t imagine how the original poster of the recipe managed to make it photogenic. The recipe caught my eye on Pinterest and I’d planned to make it for a Happy Hour night a few weeks ago, but then T got a flu bug and we cancelled so as not to share the buggy love, and then we had things going on for the next two weeks, and so here we are, three or four weeks later and I’ve got the meat already-browned in one bag in the freezer and the veggies all chopped up in another bag in the freezer, and I’d even frozen part of a bag of shredded cheese from Costco, so I pretty much just had to throw things together and put them on the stove.

Except, the big wrench, the big unknown, was that this soup calls for Velveeta and I sort of grimace every time I think about having my family (and friends, though some of them might not be bothered as much as I am) ingest that much processed cheese “food.” So, I set about trying to figure out how to get the same flavor and texture of a block of Velveeta without having the cheese turn into a weird gloppy mess in the soup. There’s actually a lot of science behind getting cheese to melt perfectly and smoothly in a sauce or soup. Think about how cheese melts when you add it to a bowl of chili, and then imagine that in a pot of soup – yuck!  If you’re curious, my two main sources were this post from America’s Test Kitchen about making American cheese and this post from Serious Eats about making nacho cheese sauce.

I ended up taking the Serious Eats route, mostly because I didn’t need the solidified hunk of cheese that the Test Kitchen’s route would produce and gelatin in soup sounds weird; I just needed an emulsified cheese mixture that wouldn’t separate and congeal when added to soup. An added factor was that I was planning to make the soup gluten free (a single recipe calls for 1/4 c flour to thicken it), so I figured that I could kill two birds with one stone in making the cheese sauce.

If you’re okay with Velveeta, skip all of this and go straight to the recipe. If you’re curious how I subbed it out for real cheese, read on. Also, note that this recipe was for a double-batch of the soup (which was completely inhaled by our crowd, by the way).  I started by heating a can of evaporated milk in a medium saucepan. I also added about 3/4 c cream, because I had it and needed to use it up; in the future, I’d probably use about 4 T butter, melting it right into the evaporated milk (note, you need some fat in this to keep the cheese from congealing, so don’t skimp; I’m currently subscribing to a nutritional school that says animal fats like butter are good for you, so load it on! Remember, at least it’s not Velveeta!). While this is heating, toss about 4 c shredded cheese (I used a Costco mix but I think the flavor would be better if I used a sharp cheddar) with 1/4 c cornstarch. When the milk is bubbly, mix the cheese into the pot, whisking until the cheese is all melted. Add about 1 c milk (again, using milk with some fat content will help keep the cheese from congealing), bring the post back to a boil over medium-low heat, whisk very regularly until the sauce is thick and smooth (with this much cornstarch, it will be grainy for a while). A little skin may form over the top if you don’t whisk regularly, but it will dissolve when you stir it back into the sauce. Make sure to stir the sauce off the bottom so it doesn’t burn. It took me about 20 minutes to get the sauce to a texture and consistency that I liked.

Shortly before serving, stir the cheese sauce into the soup and keep the soup at a low heat (I’m not sure, but I was afraid that high heat might “break” the sauce and make it separate).

I thought the soup needed a little bit of a tomato-y flavor, so I debated adding a can of tomatoes, but I ended up setting out a bottle of ketchup. Some people liked it with the ketchup; some people preferred it without. Give it a try, this is a surprisingly tasty combination!

Cheeseburger Soup adapted from The Recipe Critic

1 lb ground beef (or elk!) 3/4 c chopped onion 3/4 c shredded or finely chopped carrots 3/4 c diced celery 1 t dried basil 1 t dried parsley flakes 3 c beef broth (I used “Better Than Bouillon,” which has great flavor and is MSG-free, unlike most beef broths) 4 c potatoes, peeled & diced cheese sauce (see above for technique – for one recipe, I would use 1 can evaporated milk, 3 T butter, 2 T cornstarch, 2-3 c shredded cheddar cheese and maybe 1 c milk) or 2 c Velveeta, cubed salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

Brown meat in a large pot. Add veggies, basil, parsley and beef broth. Bring to a soft boil and simmer until veggies are soft (anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours).

In the meantime, make your cheese sauce. Shortly before serving, gently stir the sauce into the rest of the soup and keep warm but not boiling.

Serve with ketchup.

(It was suggested that this would be great topped with bacon as well – not only does bacon make everything better, then you’d have the flavors of a bacon cheeseburger!)

#cheese

Chipotle Chicken Soup

What do you do when you unexpectedly end up with a Costco box of tomatoes? When you have a soup blog and a crowd of people for whom you make soup (and chips, salsa and margaritas) every Friday evening (click here for more info), you decide to make those tomatoes into soup!

This is a great recipe from a somewhat unexpected place, my trusty old Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. I wish I remembered who had given me this cookbook or when. I just know that I’ve had it since about the time I graduated from college and I used it for a lot of basic recipes and instructions when I was learning to cook. It’s got all the basics, and every once in a while, I happen upon a gem like this light and tasty Chipotle Chicken Soup.

I’m going to give you the original recipe, which states that it makes about 3 servings, but I didn’t follow the recipe closely and I multiplied it to feed a crowd. One of the great things about soup is that you just sort of heap things together until it looks and tastes right (as opposed to baking, where it’s all about precision to the 1/8 tsp). What I did to make this soup is I got a rotisserie chicken from Costco; I pulled off the meat and cut it into soup-sized chunks, and then I used the skin and bones and juices to make a crockpot full of chicken stock. I simmered the stock (bones etc, a handful of baby carrots, an onion, and a few pinches of thyme, sage, garlic, pepper and celery seed) for about 6 hours and then strained it directly into the soup pot, where I’d already sauteed onions and garlic. I threw in the chicken and chipotles, sugar and salt, and simmered it all for about 30 minutes, then stirred in the tomatoes and cilantro and served it. Really, it couldn’t be more simple.

Chipotle Chicken Soup from the Better Homes  & Gardens Cookbook

1 c chopped onion (1 large) 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon olive oil 12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces 1 14-ounce can chicken broth 2 teaspoons chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce [Molly’s note: you might start with 1 tsp and add more to taste if you are concerned about spice; I find these chipotles to be a bit unpredictable in terms of heat level.] 1/2 tsp sugar 2 cups chopped tomatoes (2 large) or one 14.5 oz can low-sodium diced tomatoes, undrained [go ahead and use the fresh ones; it really makes the soup!] 1/4 c snipped fresh cilantro

Directions

In a Dutch oven cook onion and garlic in hot oil over medium-high heat about 4 minutes or until tender. Add chicken; cook and stir for 2 minutes or more. Stir in broth, chipotle peppers, sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in tomatoes and cilantro.

#chicken #chipotle #cilantro #tomato #brothbased #lightandsummery #mexican