Broccoli soup

We received a couple stalks of broccoli in our CSA box the past two weeks. I’m not a huge fan of just eating chunks of broccoli be it steamed as a side dish or mixed into something like beef & broccoli. I wanted something a bit different. And easy because I honestly get weary of weeknight cooking.

Broccoli soup was the solution and it was very tasty. This is based roughly on a recipe I found at cooksillustrated.com.

Broccoli Soup

Prep and Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, rough chopped
• 1 Hungarian wax pepper, cut into strips and then chopped
• 2 Tbsp. dry sherry
• 1 lbs. broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 cups chicken broth (we use Swanson “Natural Goodness” low-sodium broth)
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 20 grinds of black pepper
• 1/2 cup whole milk

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add then onions and saute for 3 minutes or so.
2. Add the pepper and saute another 2 minutes. The onions should be translucent before moving on.
3. Add the sherry and broccoli. Stir and cook until the sherry evaporate, maybe 30 seconds or so.
4. Add the broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Transfer the broccoli, broth, et al to a blender. Add the milk and puree until smooth.
6. Taste, season with additional salt & pepper if desired, taste again.
7. Serve it warm with toasted bread. Ted had his bread with a bit of melted smoked cheddar. I went for the classic butter.

Makes about 3 cups of sauce.

Saturday night – 08/27/11

It felt like several weeks had passed since we had had friends over for dinner even though only a week had passed. I got it in my head that I wanted to make a ham somewhere around mid-week. Luckily it is usually fairly inexpensive so the it doesn’t break the bank. Almost everything else in the meal was either a pantry staple or from our CSA share.

Menu
Baked Ham
Cuban Black Beans and Rice (requires an account to view)
Eggplant, summer squash and tomato casserole.

Parker House rolls
Spice cake loaf with fresh raspberries (raspberries courtesy of T&M)

What’s in the box – week 12

We are now at week 12 of our CSA share from Siena Farms. Tomatoes have started to arrive.

In the top row we have a bag of arugula, two types of eggplant (fairytale of the smaller ones and machiaw are the long curved ones) and a pile of potatoes (over 4.5 lbs this week).

The second row has cherriette radishes, a “storage” onion, Tuscan kale and a couple of stalks of broccoli.

The bottom row has three types of peppers (green Tiburon poblano, red/green bell pepper and yellow/pale green Hungarian wax pepper), a bunch of cilantro and two types of tomatoes (red roma plum and green zebra). Green zebra happen to be some of our favorite tomatoes ever. They are simply awesome.

Saturday night – 08/20/11

Smaller group than usual with just 8 this week. Didn’t know that when I bought food though so we had a lot of leftovers.

Menu
Grilled chicken quarters
Grilled/roasted potatoes, carrots & onions with thyme
Tomato & mozarella salad with basil

Ted’s homemade bread
Baked nectarines with brown sugar & cream

What’s in the box – week 11

We are now at week 11 of our CSA share from Siena Farms. Tomatoes have started to arrive.

In the top row we have a bunch of green curly kale, a bulb of fennel with many fronds, and 2 types of eggplant (the larger is pink bell and the smaller is fairytale).

The second row has 2 heads of broccoli, a cousa summer squash, 2 sierra bianca onions and 3 types of tomatoes (2 plum tomatoes, a beefsteak and an heirloom all the way to the right).

The bottom row has a 3 types of peppers (a pair of Tiburon poblano, 3 jalepenos and 2 green bells), 4 persian cukes and a small pile of rainbow potatoes.

What’s in the box – week 10

We are now at week 10 of our CSA share from Siena Farms. Eggplant is big this week.

In the top row we have a bunch of breakfast radishes, a bag of arugula, a bunch of basil and a bunch of rainbow Swiss chard.

The second row has some rainbow potatoes and 3 types of eggplant (from left to right – machiaw, black bell and fairytale).

The bottom row has a red zeppelin onion, a small wa-wa watermelon, a vine ripened tomatoe, a summer squash and 3 Hungarian “hot” wax peppers.