Cooking with Michy

Prep Time: 20 Min Cook Time: 45 Min Ready In: 1 Hr 5 Min

Ingredients

1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons butter

 1/2 onion, chopped

 2 large carrots, chopped

 1/2 clove garlic, chopped

 2 cups water

 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder

 1/2 pound (3 c.) fresh broccoli florets

 1 cup half-and-half cream

 1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

 2 tablespoons ice water

 1-1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Directions

Melt butter in a fryingpan over medium heat; add chopped onions, carrots, and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until softened.

In a medium-sized cooking pot, add 2 cups water and chicken bouillon granules and bring to boil.

Add precooked onion mixture to soup pot.

Add broccoli florets, reserving a few pieces to be added near the end of cooking time.

Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes or until broccoli is just tender.

In a blender or food processor, puree soup in batches and return to pot.

Reheat soup.

Stir in half and half cream and remaining broccoli florets.

In a cup, mix flour with cold water to form a thin liquid.

Bring soup to boil; add flour mixture slowly, stirring constantly to thicken soup as desired.

Add soy sauce, black pepper, and stir well.

Garnish with chopped parsley (or carrot curls) when serving. Serve soup hot or cold. NutritionalInformation Amount Per Serving Calories: 247 | Total Fat: 16.3g | Cholesterol: 48mg

Source: Allrecipes.com

Review: This cream of broccoli soup really tested our cooking skills. It was really easy cutting up the different vegetables, although we had some troubles chopping up the broccoli we still managed to get all the preparing done on time. Then of course came the hard part, we had lots of troubles trying to get our soup to the right thickness by blending it in a blender. After a few stops and starts we finally got it to where it was just perfect. If I was to make this soup again it would help if there was a suggested time to blend the soup, that way it will save us time from having to stop and start the blender to see if it is the right thickness. I thing I can really take away from this is the fact that I learned how to thicken a soup using the puree process. This will help with many soup down the road. Although we had a few bumps in the road we managed to keep it together and get our soup done in the class time given.