Treat yourself to this delicious and comforting broccoli parsley soup. It is made with broccoli and fresh parsley and topped with toasted hazelnuts and tender sweet onions. Served with a toasted slice of bread with onions and hazelnuts it makes a delicious meal.
Soups are wonderful. I love to make them all year round. Besides being tasty, they have many other benefits, too. Whether you enjoy them for breakfast, lunch or dinner, they can give your body energy during the colder months.
It can be any soup. For instance, a simple clear soup with pancakes, a bean pastrami protein soup, a sour turnip soup or this coconut shrimp curry soup. Soup can be as complex, as it can be simple as well. At the same time, it can be very warming and satisfying. They are plenty of soup variations. Pick your vegetables, mushrooms, noodles, seafood or anything else and create a perfect harmony. Wink.
How to make a simple soup more interesting? Oh, that’s easy. Croutons, toasted nuts and seeds, herbs, cheese, sour cream, and creme fraiche are all great ideas. A topping completely transforms a simple soup into an interesting comforting meal.
I decided on onion and hazelnuts. This combination is amazing and so easy to make. In fact, it can be all made in one pan. Start with sauteeing them with some olive oil and then finish with some delicious butter. More, the sweet onion pairs great with the crunchy toasted hazelnuts. They give a different texture to the whole dish, too.
In addition, I served the soup along with a toasted slice of homemade bread, which I rubbed with some garlic and then topped with onion and hazelnuts, too. It tastes so good.
Broccoli is a lovely vegetable, that is not appreciated or loved enough. So underestimated. Well, I love it. This funny-looking green tree can be prepared and enjoyed in many different ways. For example, you can steam it, stir-fry it, roast it or enjoy it raw. Also, you can put it in sauces, minestrone, soups or serve it as a side dish. The preparation is not much different than cauliflower.
For more broccoli and cauliflower recipes, check these out: broccoli mozzarella bites, vegan glass noodles, healthy oven-roasted cauliflower steaks, carrot cauliflower rice or this cauliflower crust pizza.
Tips
When buying broccoli, make sure you pick fresh, dark green or purple florets.
Do not wash the florets until you’re ready to prepare them. Store it in a plastic bag in the fridge. This way it will stay fresh for a week to ten days.
Broccoli is way more than florets. In fact, you can eat the leaves and stems, too. The leaves are high in antioxidants and vitamins, while the stalk is rich in fibre.
Ingredients for 2 portions of broccoli parsley soup:
- 1 broccoli (ca 500 g)
- 1 liter of water (or enough to cover the whole broccoli)
- a generous pinch of salt
- 20 g fresh parsley
- 2 red onions
- 20-30 hazelnuts (peeled)
- 1 tsp of olive oil
- 2 slices of bread
- 2 tsp of butter
- black pepper
- 2 Tbsp of creme fraiche
- 1 garlic clove
To begin, wash and trim the broccoli. Cut it into florets, slice the trunk and put everything in a pot. Cover with water, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, turn down the heat, cover it with a lid and simmer until tender.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C. Cut two slices of bread and wash some parsley.
Furthermore, peel and slice the onion into thick rings. In a small pan, drizzle some olive oil, and add the onion and the hazelnuts. Saute until glossy and tender. Last but not least, stir in the butter until melted. Cover with a lid and set aside.
Once the broccoli is tender, place the bread slices in the preheated oven. Then, add the chopped parsley to the broccoli pot, and cook for a minute. Afterwards, remove the pot from the heat and using an immersion blender, carefully blend the broccoli until smooth. Place the pot back on the heat for a couple of minutes.
At this point, stir in a spoonful of sour cream. Take the bread out of the oven, rub it with garlic and top it with onion-hazelnuts, keeping a couple of spoons on the side.
Finally, divide the broccoli parsley soup into two bowls, top it with a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche and a spoon of onion and hazelnuts. Serve it along with the toasted onion-hazelnut-bread.
Enjoy.
