I Can't Believe it's Not Dairy Broccoli Soup

Winter has finally arrived here in Jerusalem so much so that I wore black tights so you know it's real. 

For the next few months, it will be chilly out and hopefully very rainy here in Israel. During these winter months, I like to make a big pot of soup on Sunday to have in the fridge all week so I can have a cozy bowl of deliciousness whenever I want. 

I hope to share a new soup recipe every Sunday so you too can have heartwarming soups all winter long.

The first recipe of #soupsunday is a broccoli soup that's so rich and creamy you won't believe that there's absolutely no cream in it of any kind. 

What makes this soup extra creamy is the addition of chunks of potato that cook in the soup until tender and then everything gets buzzed up so the potato adds a really creamy texture to the soup. My secret to making the soup to be really decadent is the addition of a little more olive oil at the very end which gives the soup a really rich mouthfeel. 

This soup is very simple to prepare and only has 8 ingredients and I'm assuming you definitely have 4 of those ingredients already in your kitchen and the other 4 you most probably have as well. 

I Can't Believe it's Not Dairy Broccoli Soup 

2 Tbs olive oil - divided 

1 small-medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced 

800 grams/28 oz frozen broccoli - doesn't have to be exact a little more or a little less is fine 

1 large potato, peeled and cut into chunks 

4-6 cups of water 

Kosher salt 

Pepper 

In a medium-sized pot heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion along with a good pinch of salt and cook until the onion starts to become translucent about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant. Add the broccoli, potato chunks, and water just to cover everything in the pot add another pinch of salt and some pepper. Bring it to a boil which will take some time as the broccoli is frozen then reduce the heat cover the pot and allow the soup to simmer for about 20 minutes until the potato chunks are tender. 

Remove the pot from the heat and blend the soup using an immersion blender. You can use a stand blender just work in batches and be sure to remove the small plastic cap in the cover and place a kitchen towel over the top being very careful with the build-up of steam. 

Whichever method you choose blend until smooth, then add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil blend to mix that in and then taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. 

This soup is delicious as is, but I like to garnish the soup with some cracked black pepper because the heat of the pepper balances out the richness of the soup. I also top the soup with a few sprigs of fresh dill because I think broccoli and dill work really well together and the freshness of the dill is a nice compliment to the creamy soup. 

Yield: 4 portions