Cream of Broccoli Soup Recipe

I think it was my mother-in-law who first introduced me to broccoli soup. Growing up, I had enjoyed wonderful, hearty, aromatic, meals of meat and potatoes on our family farm in Ohio. And while broccoli was a nice enough vegetable, it was not, in my opinion, the stuff that soups are made of.

My mother-in-law convinced me otherwise. She had discovered that a tasty bowl of the soup was to be found at one of her favorite fast food restaurants. I sampled it, and was amazed. This was good food!

Much to our disappointment, it wasn't long before the restaurant discontinued the soup. In the years since then, I've often tried to duplicate its flavor. I've tried out various recipes, and experimented by deleting this and adding that. Nothing seemed to work.

It seems crazy, but I only recently realized that I was putting way too much emphasis on the "broccoli" and not enough on the "soup". I focused more on creating a soup base with the right flavor and added the broccoli almost as an after thought. It worked! What follows is a broccoli soup recipe that gets noticed. I recently took it in a crock pot to a gathering, and was surprised by the number of people who looked me up or phoned me for the recipe.


Cream of Broccoli Soup

1 head broccoli
2 cans evaporated milk
5 cups chicken stock*
1/2 teaspoon celery flakes**
2 cubes Knorr's chicken boullion
2 Tablespoons minced onion
2 cups water
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup flour
salt to taste

Wash broccoli and cut off florets. Set aside. In a large pot, place chicken stock, boullion cubes, onion, and celery flakes. Boil until onions are transparent. Mix cream of chicken soup with 1/2 cup water until smooth. Add to saucepan. Place the flour and 1-1/2 cups of water in a large shaker and shake until lumps are removed. Add to soup mixture. Add condensed milk and stir constantly until mixture returns to a boil and begins to thicken. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to boil. Add broccoli florets and return to boil for 5 minutes. Drain. Gently stir broccoli into soup base. Season to taste.

*Whenever I have broth left over from any recipe that uses chicken, I put the broth in a container and freeze it. This makes a much better soup than using commercial chicken broth. The broth doesn't have to be high in fat content. I often "roast' skinless chicken breasts in a small amount of water in my crockpot. The broth makes a wonderful flavoring.

**You can also use 3 ribs of fresh celery, diced.