Recipes

[ciao_bella]

Made this today.  It's just the right ratio of cheese to broccoli in this creamy, delicious soup.

BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP… (MAKES 2 QUARTS)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped onion

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1/4 cup unsifted flour

• 3 cups water

• 2 (10 ounce) packages or 1 (20oz bag) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and well-drained ( I  hand press the broccoli in a strainer or colander to remove the excess water)

• 4 teaspoons instant chicken bouillon or 4 chicken bouillon cubes

• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

• 2 (8oz blocks) shredded cheddar cheese (use only the block style cheese NOT the bagged shredded as the bag style is coated with something so it doesn't stick together and won't melt right in soup)

• 2 cups half-and-half

Directions

• In large saucepan or Dutch oven, cook onion in butter until tender; stir in flour.

• Gradually stir in water then broccoli, bouillon and worcestershire.

• Over medium heat, cook and stir until thickened and broccoli is tender, about 10 minutes. (taste to make sure broccoli is tender) At this point, taste and reseason with a little extra salt, if necessary..  I felt it needed a tad more salt, so I added a little extra seasoned salt)

• Add cheese and cream. Cook and stir until cheese melts and soup is hot (DO NOT BOIL).

• Refrigerate leftovers

[kitty4me]

Ciao_Bella thanks for sharing this Recipe. This Soup is one of my favorites.

[AuntG]

Interesting thing about the shreds not working. I will need to buy a block of cheese before trying.

[ciao_bella]

@AuntG...  Hi AuntG.. Yes, I enjoy watching cooking shows and several times (even on QVC with one of the chefs who appears during cooking shows) I've heard the chefs say you shouldn't use the bagged style cheese in soups b/c it has some kind of coating used to keep the cheese from sticking together in the bag, and it doesn't melt or taste the same way in soups.  Chef Ann Burrel (sp??) always says to only use block cheese when you need to shred.  

I used the block cheese in this soup and it came out delicious...in melting and taste.   

Here is an article about the bagged vs block  

http://www.kcet.org/living/food/the-nosh/pre-shredded-versus-freshly-grated-cheese-whats-the-differe...

[BeckiWV]

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@ciao_bella wrote:

@AuntG...  Hi AuntG.. Yes, I enjoy watching cooking shows and several times (even on QVC with one of the chefs who appears during cooking shows) I've heard the chefs say you shouldn't use the bagged style cheese in soups b/c it has some kind of coating used to keep the cheese from sticking together in the bag, and it doesn't melt or taste the same way in soups.  Chef Ann Burrel (sp??) always says to only use block cheese when you need to shred.  

I used the block cheese in this soup and it came out delicious...in melting and taste.   

Here is an article about the bagged vs block  

http://www.kcet.org/living/food/the-nosh/pre-shredded-versus-freshly-grated-cheese-whats-the-differe...

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I agree that the bagged pre-shredded kind doesn't taste nearly as good as when you shred it yourself from a block.