Gourmet Cooking: Lesson 3

Broccoli & Potato Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
4 medium red potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium broccoli crown, cut into small florets
4 oz blue cheese, crumbled
4 cups vegetable stock
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/8 tsp paprika
salt & pepper

1. Heat oil in a large pan. Add the potatoes & onion. Saute, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Add garlic, cook for another 4 minutes.

2. Add the broccoli, saute for 3 minutes. Add the blue cheese and vegetable stock.

3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally.

4. Transfer the soup to a blender or food processor in batches and process until the mixture is almost smooth. Add ricotta to one of the blender batches. Leave about a 1/4 of the soup unprocessed.

5. Mix it all together in the pot. Add paprika and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle on a dash of paprika to individual serving bowls to make it look fancy.

This recipe is adapted from Favorite Vegetarian Dishes, a book that does not appear to have a specific author (“by staff of Paragon Publishing”). I say “adapted” because I changed some of the ingredients to suit our tastes and what was on hand. I recommend the cookbook. Each recipe covers one page and includes a large color photograph of the finished product, three smaller photos of the work in progress, nutritional information, approximate active and total time, tips for prep, freezing, substitutes etc, and a difficulty rating from 1-3 chef’s hats. (The soup above is 1 hat.) My mother gave the book to me in July 2005 and I have enjoyed it ever since.

October 22, 2007. Words.