broccoli, cheddar cheese, brown butter & sage soup

 

Broccoli, Cheddar Cheese, Brown Butter & Sage Soup

October brings mild weather in our area with a small amount of rain in the monthly forecast but we can still see slight changes outside, leaves turning colors and falling off trees.  We don't really see a big  change here until November when hopefully we will experience rain and our fire season will be diminished.

I found sage in a garden pot and thought about creating a soup using sage brown butter, here comes Fall-really just around the corner.  I tried to garnish my soup using broccoli florets, grated cheddar cheese and fried sage leaves, what happened?  The cheese mostly sunk along with the broccoli florets but the fried sage leaves saved the day and floated on top.  I also added a flourish of sweet paprika and I think that turned out ok, so if interested in a garnish for the top of your soup just go with the sage and paprika.

Ingredients and Recipe for Broccoli, Cheddar Cheese, Brown Butter & Sage Soup

serves 6-8

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

12 fresh sage leaves

1 yellow onion, chopped

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup dry white wine

5 cups chicken broth

1&1/2 lbs broccoli, trimmed and cut into pieces

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 cups half and half

3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, plus extra for sprinkling 

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika, plus extra for sprinkling

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large heavy pot, like a dutch oven, melt the butter over a medium high heat until it bubbles and turns a medium color brown, add the sage leaves.  Cook and stir the sage until it crisps, move to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.

Stir in the chopped onions, cook and stir for about 7-8 minutes, until tender.

Stir in the flour, cook and stir for about 1 minute.

Add the wine and quickly reduce, over his heat, add the broth, broccoli and lemon juice, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until broccoli is tender.

Remove pot from the heat and cool slightly.  Using a stick blender blend the pot until smooth, note if you want a few broccoli florets now is the time to fish them out and set aside for the garnish.

Place the pot back on the heat and pour in the half and half, simmer over a low heat, stir in the cheese and continue stirring until cheese is melted. 

Add the paprika, sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Garnish the soup with extra cheddar cheese, broccoli florets, sprinkle of paprika and fried sage leaves.