Broccoli soup with sauteed mushrooms

Broccoli has many health promoting qualities, is cheap and easy to cook with. Oh, and broccoli is low in calories too. This soup could not be any simpler to make with fresh broccoli florets, mushrooms and garlic. It was spectacularly delicious and my hubs was gobbling it up with moans of gratitude. Soup is an excellent example of a food that anybody can make from scratch. If you can boil water and add things to it, you can make soup. It is comforting, delicious and packed with nutrition as well. To me, I always associated soup with being sick, I donno why, maybe this is what we were allowed to eat when we were kids!  Now, I know that just a few ingredients bring out all the flavor you need for a hearty and filling soup.

Ingredients (serves 4): 2 ½ lb (1,2 kg) of broccoli, florets only - ½ lb (300g) mushrooms, sliced - a handful of fresh parsley, chopped - 2 tsps of lemon juice - one clove of garlic, peeled and whole - 1 tbsp olive oil

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the broccoli florets until they start to soften, but still bright green (around 5 to 7 mn). Heat the olive oil in a pan and toss the mushrooms with the whole garlic clove. The garlic clove is just there to perfume the mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Add the parsley, toss, remove and discard the garlic clove.

Once the broccoli florets cooked, remove them from the water, but keep the water. Using a blender or a food processor, puree the broccoli, adding a little of the cooking water to the broccoli puree. Keep adding a little water and blitzing until you reach your desired consistency (once you know roughly how much water you need you can do this in one step next time). Season.

Pour soup into a bowl and top with the sauteed mushrooms.

Soupe de brocolis aux champignons parfumés

Ingrédients (4 personnes): 1,2 kg de broccoli, ne conservant que les rosettes - 300 g de champignons émincés - une poignée de persil, haché - 2 càc de jus de citron - une gousse d'ail pelée - 1 càs d'huile d'olive

Faites chauffer de l'eau bouillante salée dans une grande casserole. Ajoutez les rosettes de brocoli et faites les cuire jusqu'à ce qu'elles soient tendres mais toujours vertes (5 à 7 mn environ).

Faites chauffer l'huile d'olive dans une poêle et faites revenir les champignons émincés avec la gousse d'ail. La gousse d'ail sert pour parfumer les champignons. Assaisonnez de sel, de poivre et de jus de citron.

Ajoutez le persil haché, mélangez et retirez la gousse d'ail.

Une fois le brocoli cuit, égouttez-le en réservant l'eau de cuisson. Mixez les brocolis dans un blender, en ajoutant peu à peu de l'eau de cuisson. Continuez à ajoutez de l'eau jusqu'à obtenir la consistance désirée. Assaisonnez.

Dressez la soupe dans des bols et ajoutez les champignons sur le dessus.

Source: Inspired from www.nibbledish.com