A lot of recipes for broccoli cheese soup rely on 'processed cheese products' rather than real cheese. I wanted to make a broccoli cheese soup with the great flavor of the real aged Gouda available here in The Netherlands. After some failed attempts at getting natural cheeses to melt into soup broths, I came up with this solution. Use a good aged cheddar if you can't find aged Gouda.
Course:
Soup
Cuisine:
American, Dutch
Servings: 4
Ingredients
1head broccoli
2t+ 2 t butter
1small onion
1cvegetable boullion
1cwater
1/2pack4 ounces of cream cheese
1/2cshredded aged Gouda cheese
1/4cheavy cream or half-and-half
1/4cmilk
Instructions
Chop onion coarsely. Cut broccoli head into florets. Peel the stem and chop into 1/2 inch cubes.
Melt 2 t butter in a medium soup pan over medium heat. Add onion and sautee 3 minutes until soft but not browning.
Add broccoli, bouillon, and water. Boil covered for 15 minutes.
While broccoli boils, make the cheese sauce. In small saucepan, melt 2 t butter over medium-low heat. Add cream cheese and stir continuously until melted, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add cheese and continue to stir 2 minutes. Then begin slowly adding cream, about 1 T at t time, stirring after each addition. After cream is fully added, add milk in the same manner. Keep warm on very low heat.
Blend broccoli soup to puree with stick blender or let cool slightly and puree in batches in a stand blender.