Roasted Broccoli Potato Soup

Non-vegans may not know this, but it's easy to make a creamy soup. Puree any soup long enough, and it will seem like it has some kind of dairy in it. But adding potato? Instantly creamier.

Otherwise, this soup isn't too different from this roasted broccoli/split pea soup. Here, though, I used bay leaf and thyme instead of cumin and turmeric, and I added some roasted garlic cloves.

Two surprisingly controversial ingredients. Nutritional yeast adds a great nutty/cheesy element to the soup, but it's pretty strange on its own. You might want to completely stir it in before serving.

And thyme... for a while, I thought I'd just gotten a bad batch. But after several batches, I've realized that thyme smells very strange to me. Some googling confirmed that I'm not alone in feeling like thyme smells like mold. In small amounts, though, I still like it; there's just a critical threshold it's important not to cross. #toomuchthymeonmyhands

Again, comfort food: not always so pretty. But this is one of the best things I've had all year.

Roasted Broccoli Potato Soup

Ingredients

olive oil 

pinch salt 

2-3 heads broccoli, broken into bite-sized pieces (reserve stems)

1 potato, peeled and cut into large chunks

3 cloves garlic

*

olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 more cloves garlic, minced

1 serrano chili, minced (de-seed for less spicy)

broccoli stems (from before), chopped

6 c stock/water

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp thyme

pepper

salt

nutritional yeast (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375*. Toss the broccoli, potato, and 3 cloves garlic in olive oil and salt. Roast about 30-40 minutes, then remove from oven.

2. In large saucepan, heat olive oil. Saute onion until soft, then add (fresh) garlic and chili. Saute a few more minutes, then add reserved broccoli stems as well as roasted ingredients. Stir a few times, then add stock, bay leaf, and thyme. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until veggies are soft.
3. Allow to cool, then puree in blender. Return to pot, reheat, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, with some nutritional yeast stirred in (if desired). Makes about  10 c.