Dairy Free "Cream" of Broccoli Soup

When the temperature here in Houston dips below 60F, and especially if they dance around freezing, I usually jump on the chance at making a soup or in the case of this week 3 soups! This week I made a roasted curried squash soup (see Instagram post from 11/14/2019), a paleo chicken pho soup ( Nom Nom Paleo) and then this delicious Dairy Free “Cream” of Broccoli Soup, all different flavors yet all delicious. Of course the real key to my “soup flexibility” this week is bone broth (see benefits of bone broth here).

Now normally I would have a batch of bone broth frozen in my freezer or make some fresh but my recent bone broth attempt was disastrous and I will tell you why because I truly believe cooking (like many things) is one of those things that requires a great deal of failure in order to be successful. First of all, I attempted a chicken bone broth but decided last minute to add unmarked frozen rib bones found in my freezer… Why? because I love the thrill of a good bargain and utilizing things that I would normally throw away fits into that category. I have totally saved chicken bone in the past and kept them in the freeze for broth and this worked PERFECTLY, but I think because the rib bones had been cooked for a longer period of time and then cooked again to create the broth; it created a very bitter broth. I am not talking about the type of bitter that might add complexity to a recipe; this broth disaster was completely different!

My other mistake was adding in the skins of a lemon and lime (again out of a fear of waste). I’ve totally added the skins of onion (red or yellow) and not had this same horrible biter taste but this time it was not even salvageable and I ironically had to THROW THE ENTIRE BATCH DOWN THE DRAIN. Talk about waste! So this week instead of using my 100% organic and homemade bone broth to make my soups; I used store bought bone broth. But guess what? It still tasted fantastic and even better, most of the large grocery stores now carry good quality bone broth. A good quality bone broth will not contain any funky ingredients or chemicals (if you don’t recognize an ingredient then neither does your digestive tract) and it will actually be slow cooked over 24 hours with the bones. All high quality and therapeutic bone broths will be either refrigerated or frozen. Shelf stable broth is likely lacking in the gelatin that you want from a good bone broth.

Bone broth and kitchen failures aside; this soup recipe can easily be made completely vegan or vegetarian with the substitution of vegetable broth for bone broth and avocado oil for butter. By glancing at the ingredient list you can also gather that this recipe is actually extremely simple, but still incredibly satisfying and delicious! Serve with a protein or alone for a warming and unique winter time meal!

GATHER

2 broccoli crowns or about 3-4 cups chopped broccoli

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, diced

1 tbsp grass-fed butter

3-4 cups vegetable broth or bone broth or chicken stock

1/2 cup coconut milk or almond milk

2/3 cup yogurt ( I used Culina dairy free Coconut yogurt)

juice of 1 lime

1 tsp turmeric

2/3 tsp or to taste salt

optional drizzle of olive oil and sesame seed to top soup after cooking

MAKE

Begin by heating 1 tbsp of butter in a medium to large stock pot over medium heat. Add in your diced onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add in 3 cups of broth to the stock pot. If you prefer a thinner soup you may go ahead and add another cup of broth or stock. I like to adjust the consistency as I go along. Add your chopped broccoli to the stock pot.

When prepping your broccoli you can trim the very end part of the stems and remove the leaves; but I recommend leaving the majority of the stems as they will end up being pureed anyways! Allow your broccoli to simmer covered in the broth for about 20 minutes or until tender. Once cooked through; add your broccoli and broth mixture to a heat safe blender in batches and blend until your create a puree. If your blender is not heat safe then you will want to let your soup cool slightly before doing this step.

Once your soup is fully blended; add it back to the stock pot under low heat. Add in your yogurt, juice of 1 lime, turmeric, salt and coconut milk (or almond milk). At this point you can adjust for salt or consistency. If you would prefer a thinner consistency then add another cup of broth. If you would prefer it to be more creamy then add additional cream or coconut or almond milk!