The slow cooker chef: Broccoli and watercress soup recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Starters and Soups, Vegetables and Sides, Vegetarian | 9 comments
Photo: Broccoli and watercress soup
“I bet we’re the first in the world to be having broccoli soup and flash fried squid for breakfast.” Danny dunked a chunk of crusty bread in his soup.
With me still at home we tend to have a late brunch these days but yesterday was the first day that we’d gone wild and had soup and seafood.
I’d bought the broccoli in the market. Two giant heads for a pound. As the vegetables don’t have a long shelf life we ate broccoli with the skirt of beef stew and the rest was chopped and popped into the slow cooker
The result was superb. I sprinkled some blue goat’s cheese on the top of mine but it’s tasty enough to eat on its own. I’m feeling peckish just writing this. Time to get up and heat up the rest of the soup. This is another in our skinflint soup series.
Broccoli and watercress soup recipe (for 4 -6 people)
Ingredients:
2 large heads of broccoli (calabrese) washed and chopped including the stalks
1 bunch of watercress – roughly chopped including stalks
1 tsp of garlic granules
2 tsp of vegetable stock powder
Boiling water to just cover the broccoli
Half a teaspoon of celery salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste
Method:
Put all the ingredients (except thecelery salt and white pepper) in the slow cooker. Set the switch to auto and let it bubble away until the broccoli is soft (ours took about an hour or so). Liquidise the soup using a stick blender. Season with celery salt and ground white pepper and serve with warm crusty bread.
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Hi Joan
Good news that it was tasty – blue cheese crumbles sound delicious.
fn-thanks for the tip. The soup was mighty fine! We tossed in a few blu cheese crumbles and had some great bread to dip. Yummy! Glad to have my crock pot back on the counter for lots more encounters!
Hi Joan
Yes a crock pot is called a slow cooker in the UK!
Hi Maria,
That potato soup recipe sounds fab. Must try it soon. Thanks.
Wet and miserable here this morning came on site for inspiration, thank you! although we lived opposite a watercress farm in dorset, we dont have any at hand this morning SO! just used plenty of seasonig stock cubes and smash potatoes with a little grated cheese, then whizzed it all up! just in time for Sir came home after delivering a load of straw, he had 2 bowls and crusty bread verdict delicious! and soo healthy! thank you * Maria
So very hungry just reading this! I have a crock pot (live in NY) and wonder is it the same as a slow cooker? It seems it should take longer than two hours to cook, but, maybe it’s the 220 voltage you have vs our 120. In any case, I will find out by trial and error, can’t wait to try it!
Hi Ruth
That squid sounds great – thank you.
Hi Mary
I really liked this soup too. The watercress is the secret.
Tried this yesterday – soup was wonderful mmmmmmmmmm and best of all a great way to use up broccoli when you find a cheap offer – off to look out more of your great soups.
Ps – not having any rice flour to hand I used self raising – it was fine.
Mmmm – this soup sounds great. I have my very first home grown broccoli / calabrese this year at the moment so I may have to give this a go. Squid too – decadent! 🙂 I love salt and pepper squid, not sure how you did yours this day but this recipe: http://www.gastronomydomine.com/2007/07/salt-and-pepper-prawns.html for prawns works well with squid. Getting myself hungry now!