The first 2 weeks of December in the Cape always feel like winter. The evenings are cold and windy, with the occasional light rainfall. Our wedding day was no different and neither have the anniversary dinners thereafter. Last anniversary, Mr L surprised me with dinner at Steffanie’s Place in Somerset West. I was obviously grumbling all the way there because it was so cold and a long drive from home, but the amazing food made it worth it. I had a broccoli and blue cheese soup for starters and I have been trying to recreate the recipe ever since!
I feel like winter has decided to come around early this year so I am sharing this yummy soup with you all. The recipe is divided into two components, steaming the broccoli and making the blue cheese sauce, to get the best flavour from both ingredients. The honey is a key component in mellowing the strong flavour of the cheese and broccoli, so please don’t leave it out. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
Ingredients:
- 1 head broccoli, rinsed and cut into florets
- 3 Tbsp (45g) butter
- 3 Tbsp (45ml) cake flour
- 500 ml milk
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 50g blue mould cheese
- 1 Tbsp (15ml) honey
Method:
- Steam broccoli until bright green in colour. (Be careful not to over steam as this may cause the broccoli to have a cabbage-like taste and smell)
- While the broccoli is steaming, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Once butter is melted, add flour and stir to cook the ‘roux’ (fat and flour mixture).
- When the roux is light and golden in colour, slowly whisk in milk on high heat.
- Once the sauce thickens, turn off the heat and season.
- Crumble in the blue cheese and whisk to melt.
- Blend broccoli in a blender with some steaming water to a medium consistency.
- Combine blended broccoli with the blue cheese sauce and add honey for sweetening. Add more honey, if needed.
