This healthy, dairy-free, gluten-free soup is perfect for Sukkot guests.
Before culinary school, I'd always assumed "creamed" soup meant adding dairy cream. However, creaming isn't an ingredent – it's a method. Creamed soup involves puréeing an ingredient (e.g., potatoes, corn, rice) in the soup, and rarely involves dairy. In fact, adding dairy cream will often thin and cool a hot soup.
For this cream of broccoli super soup, the vegetables are cooked quickly so as not to get brown; resulting in a more verdant, green soup. Hearty cannellini beans add plant-based protein and thick texture. A cheesy, umami flavor comes from nutritional yeast flakes.Once you’ve got this creamed soup technique in your cooking repertoire, you can use it on a variety of vegetables. Make cream of zucchini, sweet potato, carrot,parsnip, or roasted beet soup…the garden’s the limit.
- In a medium pot, combine the carrot, celery, and thyme. Cover and sweat over medium heat until aromatic, 3-5 minutes. If vegetables start to brown, simply add a splash of water and reduce the heat.
- Add the broccoli, cannellini beans, bay leaf, vegetable stock, and water to the pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the broccoli is tender, about 8-10 minutes.
- Remove bay leaves. Add nutritional yeast.
- Use an immersion or a standard blender to purée the mixture until smooth. If the soup seems too thick, add more broth or water.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper. Enjoy!
Chef Katie Simmon's Tips
- For a chilled version, don't add water during cooking. Instead, add 2 cups of ice when you purée the soup.
- You can also use frozen broccoli. Use 2 pounds frozen broccoli and add as you do in the recipe above. It will take less time for the broccoli to become tender, about 3-5 minutes.
Classically-trained Chef Katie Simmons is a personal chef in Chicago. Her journey to cooking has been a winding path from Kentucky to backpacking in New Zealand through culinary school at Kendall College and working for Whole Foods Market. Her own frustrations of being an overweight fitness professional finally led her to embrace a plant-based, vegan diet.
