cheddar broccoli soup.

Yeah yeah yeah, soup. I don't even have anything funny to say about it. I'm just about all out of sense of humor after a few days of this:



We're still huddled under layers of snow and ice (literally- outside it goes snow-ice-snow, and tonight we'll probably get a new layer of ice on top of that.) and trying to find ways to keep warm. A hot mug of cheddar soup definitely solves that problem.



You'll need:

1 pound of cheddar cheese, grated finely (we used Tillamook.)
1 finely chopped onion
2 cloves of crushed garlic
"a big chunk of butter"
a handful of flour
3-4 cups of stock
1 cup of milk
3 smallish heads of broccoli, chopped into small bites
bay leaf
white pepper

First, lightly steam the broccoli and then rinse in cool water to halt the cooking process. Set aside. In a large soup pot, melt a hunk of butter and saute onions and garlic until glassy. Toss in a few pinches of flour and whisk until you have a roux. Toast the roux lightly, then add stock a little at a time, stirring continuously with a whisk. Add milk in the same manner, then a bay leaf. Begin to sprinkle in cheese, still stirring continuously. Incorporate the cheese as it melts. Continue to stir, season with some white pepper. Stir in broccoli and allow it to heat up. Let soup thicken a little and spoon into mugs.



This was incredibly rich and very delicious. As my husband pointed out- you don't really have to dress up a pound of cheese- it kind of does the work for you. Plus, if you eat enough of it, you'll have plenty of extra padding to protect you from freezing cold weather.

Edited to add: This has been one of our more popular recipes, and I've gotten a lot of emails about it. Please keep in mind that the cheese must be grated rather finely, and you need to add it very slowly, being sure to mix it in thoroughly before adding more, or else it will not incorporate and you'll end up with stringy, lumpy soup. It's not difficult, it just requires patience. Good luck!