Broccoli Soup au Gratin – Thin to Win!

It was one of those weeks. The holiday pushed me off schedule by a day; they're doing construction next door, which means I can't record at certain times; and if that wasn't enough, this amazing looking soup was a total disaster – a temporary disaster – but a disaster nonetheless.

The good news is, I saved it in the end, and hopefully we'll all be better for it. Turns out a cheesy crouton, like one you'd enjoy on a French onion soup, is a terrible idea, if your soup is extra thick, and bordering on a purée.

I came close to tossing everything, and ordering pizza, but what kind of example would that set? So I thinned it out, passed it through a fire mesh strainer, and gave it another try. This made it significantly better, and the ingredient amounts seen below have been adjusted, so you should get a texture similar to my final version.

I'm not sure when/if I'll try this again, but if I do, I'll use small croutons, so I can eat it without drenching all the cheesy bread with the first few bites. While I officially hope you give this a try soon, I secretly hope you experiment with better soup choices to use this potentially great technique. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 6 portions:

• 2 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus probably more to taste
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 pounds broccoli, trimmed
• 5 to 6 cups broth, or as needed to adjust texture
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• cayenne to taste
• 6 round crispy croutons the same size as your crock (or 3 cups of little salad croutons)
• 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar, gruyere, or combination of the two
• *Note: Be sure to adjust with more broth if need be, as well as pass the soup through a fine mesh strainer to achieve a finer texture.