October 18, 2007
The Brussels sprout is a much-maligned vegetable. As far back as I can remember, I’ve always loved them and was surprised to learn that most people didn’t share my affection. Probably a fair number of you are ready to run for the hills at this point, or maybe just click off to another blog. But before you do, let me ask you this one little question. What has a Brussels sprout ever done to you to deserve so much hostility? Please consider this list.
The Top 10 Things That A Brussels Sprout Never Did to You.
- Sold you a lemon.
- Made you gain weight.
- Forced you to watch bad TV.
- Spammed you at work.
- Intentionally tripped you while you were walking down the street.
- Talked about you behind your back.
- Stole your identity.
- Lost your car keys.
- Provided no nutrients.
Okay, I only came up with nine. If you can come up with one more, please feel free to add to the list. And if a Brussels sprout has done a few of these things to you, well… I guess you should contact the authorities and I can see why you wouldn’t want to make this soup.
One of the cool things about being a food blogger is that other food bloggers learn your tastes and think of you when they cook certain recipes. Gilli, who blogs from New Zealand at So So Simple Food, knows that I love Brussels sprouts and dedicated her soup recipe to me here. This recipe below is an adaptation of her recipe based on the ingredients that I had on hand and conversion to U.S. measurements from Metric. Enjoy!
Creamy Brussels Sprout Soup
(Makes about 2 quarts)
4 cups Brussels sprouts (chopped)
2 T butter
¼ cup grapeseed oil
3 cups water
2 cups Half & Half (heated)
3 chicken bullion cubes
1 large garlic clove (chopped)
2 T flour
½ tsp. ground black pepper
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
In large soup pan, melt butter and add oil. Sauté chopped sprouts and garlic for about 10 minutes or until softened. Dissolve bullion cubes in one cup of hot water. Pour into soup pan over sprouts and garlic. Add remaining two cups of water. Stir in pepper and nutmeg. Cover pan and simmer for about twenty minutes. Add flour and use large whisk to combine. Be careful and whisk slowly, because the hot soup may splatter. Cover pan again and bring soup almost to the boiling point.
Remove from heat. Puree soup in blender or use an immersion blender to blend in soup pan. I used an immersion blender and highly recommend getting one if you make a lot of pureed soup. It makes all the difference in the world and is fairly inexpensive. Let soup cool before blending or be very careful when blending if it’s still hot. I almost burned myself! Serve warm and garnish with some ground thyme if you wish.
Comments
ljohnson (ljohnson) says...
Recipe Correction: Ooops! I made this soup again recently and realized that I forgot to write a step.
Add the Half & Half after removing the soup from the stove and before blending. Sorry about that!
December 5, 2007 at 1:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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