Chef's Notes

You will generally notice that the ingredients and directions don't always follow that what I did. That's because I cook with what I have and I'm a menace. The photo and recipe are for those who require those sorts of things. This here is for the folks who know a thing or two about a thing or two.

For this soup, I used the Holy Trinity plus the Pope. That just means onions, celery, carrots, and garlic. Traditionally, this would be in a 2:1:1 ratio (for the mirepoix (onion, celery, carrot). I used 4 whole carrots, 3 stalks of celery, a single yellow onion, and about two handfuls of peeled garlic. I like garlic. If you don't like garlic, use less. I put the carrot, celery, onion, and garlic into a food processor because I was feeling lazy and because I wanted a shredded consistency for my veggies. You could also just dice and mince and julienne according to your preferences.

Make sure you prepare your pot before you start cooking. What does this mean? DON'T cook with a cold pot! You want to be sure to heat up your pot and then heat up your oil of choice before you start adding things. Your method of doing this is going to be different than mine, so be smart and do what's best for your cookware. I have stainless steel cookware because I'm both cheap and hard on the things in my kitchen. I need it to go into the oven at 500º AND into the dishwasher. ::shrug::

My fat for this soup was bacon grease. You know your dietary and religious restrictions. If you need an alternative, visit Brave and find one. Butter, ghee, olive oil, and tallow make excellent fats. Please - for the love of your arteries, do not use Crisco or vegetable oil. I mean, if that's what you have, fine, but let me know that that is what you have, so I can procure for you something that isn't a heart cath waiting to happen. Jeez oh Pete.

Where was I? Hot pan, hot bacon fat, add the shredded veggies and LIBERALLY salt them. (Side Note: Please use sea salt and not iodized table salt. Someone is likely going to tell me that Kosher salt is amazing and that's what professional chefs use and blah-blah-blah. I don't care. Sea salt. Preferably GRAY in color because that means its been processed the LEAST. My recipe. My rant.

When the veggies have cooked to the point of being very soft, cover them with flour to make a roux. If you need to be gluten-free, you could skip this step and likely no one would know, or you could use a 1:1 substitution flour. I've not really found a particular type of flour that works best, but your mileage may vary. Cook the floured vegetables, stirring frequently. It will become a paste. You will think you've screwed up. The bottom will start to scorch. You'll panic. Take a deep breath and know that very little in the kitchen isn't fixable. At this point, I add chicken stock. If you need this to be vegetarian/vegan, then add veggie stock. It's not that serious (or that complicated).

Once I've deglazed the pan with my stock and I've got a nice "gravy" going on, I add a hefty splash of heavy whipping cream because calories don't scare me. You could use whole milk, 2%, skim milk, skip the milk, or a dairy alternative. I find So Delicious Original Coconut Milk (red packaging) to be the closest to dairy in terms of consistency and bland flavor. If you've found an alternative you like better, share.

Next step is to add the cheese. Now I didn't have my preferred cheese (see the ingredients list) and I refuse to buy ingredients when I've got other stuff that will work just fine. Today's cheese(s) ended up being a smorgasbord of colby jack, provolone, American, and some sharp cheddar. Literally, I used what I had in my fridge to use up. Zero food waste. In the past, I've thrown in a dollop of cream cheese to clean it up too. Soup is rather forgiving like that.

Lastly, I ran my broccoli (frozen, but thawed) through the food processor to make it smaller. I threw it in the pot, covered it up, and sat down to type this up for my good friend, KB, who wanted to know how to make it. ;) Hey, girl!