Roasted Broccoli Beer Cheese Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 bulb garlic
• 1 large red onion
• 1 whole head broccoli
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 1 12 oz bottle Honey Brown Lager
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/8 cup flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 8 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese
• 8 ounces Monterrey Jack cheese
• 8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon Cholua® Chipotle Hot Sauce
• 1 teaspoon McCormack® Chipotle pepper (ground)
• ground thyme
• Redmond's Real Salt, to taste
• Kulp's seasoning salt
• smoked paprika
• McCormack® Peppercorn Medley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees


Directions:

Slice the tippy-top off the bulb of garlic.  Drizzle on olive oil.  Liberally sprinkle on salt and peppercorn medley.  Wrap up in foil and place it in the oven.  Roast 55-60 minutes.

Line a small metal pan with foil (for easy clean-up) and place the bell pepper on it side.  Roast for 40 minutes, turning every 10 minutes.

Line a small metal pan with foil (for easy clean-up).  Cut off the bottom and top of your onion.  Peel it.  Cut into half and then six wedges.  Massage the sides of each wedge with olive oil.  Sprinkle on salt.  Then liberally sprinkle on peppercorn medley and thyme.  Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes, flipping to the other side of the wedge after about 15 minutes.  The wedges will eventually fall apart and you might want to stir them around a bit after another 15 minutes.

Cut off the broccoli florets from the whole head of broccoli.  Put in a wide shallow bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil and toss until all are coated.  Spread out on a metal pan, making sure all the flat sides are face down and the sprout sides are upward.  Sprinkle seasoning salt and smoked paprika over each piece of broccoli.  Roast for 25 minutes until nicely browned.

Whilst all the roasting is going on, grate the cheeses and set aside.

Once all the roasting is completed, put the broccoli in a blender.  Using a tip of a regular knife to scoop out each clove of now roasted garlic and add it to the blender.  Add in the pieces of the roasted onion.  Peel the skin off the bell pepper and carefully cut it open.  Remove the seeds, but try to keep the juices so both the flesh and juices can be added to the blender.  Add chipotle hot sauce and chipotle ground pepper.  Add 1/2 of the bottle of beer.  Purée until smooth.  Adding a bit more beer if needed.  Set aside the rest of the beer for later.

In a sauteuse pan, melt the butter over medium heat.  While you are doing so, microwave the milk for two minutes to scald it.  Once melted, slowly stir in the flour until smooth. Continue stirring as the flour cooks to a light, golden color, about 3 minutes.  It will become a bit frothy.  Increase the heat to medium-high and every so slowly whisk the hot milk into the roux. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium low. Continue simmering until the flour has softened and become completely smooth, about 5-10 minutes.  Then very, very, very slowly begin adding in the grated cheese, handful by handful, stirring thoroughly until completely melted between handfuls.

Once all the cheese has been mixed in, slowly add the puréed mixture into the pan, stirring frequently.  Use the remaining beer to loosen the purée stuck to the sides of the blender with a light pulsing.  Pour that into the pan.  Allow the soup to simmer for a few minutes.

Serve hot with sourdough bread.


Myrtle's Note:  I saw this recipe for roasted broccoli soup and thought about using it as a starter base for trying to make a broccoli cheddar soup, which I have wanted to do.  The recipe suggested roasting garlic pealed in a pan, but that is not the way to roast garlic.  I also Googled the roasting of onions and not one recipe mentioned chopping them.  So, I followed my own knowledge about roasting things and went from there.

At first I thought about just substituting the roasted vegetables with the rutabaga and parsnips in Roasted Rutabaga and Parsnips Beer Cheese Soup, but instead started with a basic béchamel sauce and went from there.

Finally, if roasting all in one oven, arranging all your pans on a single rack and adding in the other vegetables as the clock winds down from roasting the garlic, stick with the 400 degrees.  If you have two ovens to use, roast the broccoli in a second oven at 425 degrees.  That is the better roasting temperature for broccoli.


Yield:  6 servings

Source:  Myrtle, but inspired by  http://www.foxnews.com/recipe/roasted-broccoli-soup-peppers-and-onions?intcmp=obmod_ffo&intcmp=obnetwork

Roasted Broccoli Patties with Garlic, Herbs, and Cheese

Ingredients:

• 12 oz fresh broccoli florets
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tablespoon of minced fresh thyme
• 1/2 tablespoon of minced fresh oregano
• 1/2 tablespoon of minced fresh basil
• 3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup Kraft® shredded Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago cheeses
• Sea Salt
• McCormack® Peppercorn Medley 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.


Directions:

Mince garlic and set aside.  Cut off the florets from a head of broccoli until you have a 12 ounces. After getting the amount, cut the florets in to small pieces so that they fit well with the patty shape.  Put the florets in a wide, shallow glass bowl.  Toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add minced garlic and toss again.  Spread onto a metal baking pan or sheet.  Season with sea salt and the peppercorn medley.  I used approximately 5 pinches of salt and then evenly dusted the top of the florets with the ground peppercorns.  Shake the pan from side to side a bit and then place into the oven.  Roast at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.

Whilst the broccoli and garlic is roasting, spray a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.  Beat the eggs and set aside.  Mince the fresh herbs and set aside.

Then, in a large bowl, mix together the bread crumbs and fresh herbs.  Then add the Parmesan,  Romano, and Asiago cheeses and mix again.  Next add the cheddar cheese.  Set aside until the broccoli is done.

Once the broccoli is out of the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees.  

Add the broccoli and the beaten eggs to the bowl and mix together.  Once thoroughly mixed, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl frequently to get all the bread crumbs,  form a ball in your hands and then shape into a patty and place on the greased baking sheet.  [The mixture will be crumbly and stick to your hands.  I had to mostly grab a handful, hold it in a ball shape, place it on the pan, and then sort of shape and press it into a patty shape.]  Repeat until all the mixture is gone.

Bake 12-15 minutes at 400 degrees, until the tops are golden brown.  Remove from oven, turn over, and bake an additional 12-15 minutes.  15 minutes on each side will make them very crispy, so keep an eye on them.


Myrtle's Note:  I've been wanting to make these for over a year, but have always thought the recipe seemed a bit ... lacking.  I kept searching for other recipes, but they are all pretty much the same ... the main difference being if you bake them or fry them.  Now, having done a lot of cooking myself, I had the confidence to try and craft a better recipe for baked broccoli patties.  Not being an onion person, I simply dropped the onions from the recipe, but then I used the core ingredients to craft something that had much more flavor.  For one, I used fresh broccoli and then roasted the broccoli and garlic together first.  Then, I added in the fresh herbs.  I also changed it from merely Parmesan cheese to a mix of hard cheeses.  I found them really tasty and far more ... together ... than I would have thought given how crumbly the mixture is and how hard it was to form the patties.  One recipe had the option of adding in some parboiled potatoes chunks. I might try that sometime.


Yield: 6-7 patties

Inspired from:  http://www.food.com/recipe/baked-cheese-broccoli-patties-500602

Parmesan Roasted Broccoli

Ingredients:

• 3 large heads of broccoli
• 1 large dollop Gourmet Gardens minced garlic
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons McCormick® Peppercorn Medley
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 large dollop McCormick® fresh basil paste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.


Directions:

Cut the broccoli florets from the thick stalks, leaving an inch or so of stalk attached to the florets if desired, discarding the rest of the stalks. Cut the larger pieces of florets through the base of the head with a small knife, pulling the florets apart.  Whisk together 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and one dollop minced garlic.  Toss with the florets in a shallow bowl.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Place the broccoli florets on a sheet pan large enough to hold them in a single layer.   Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until crisp-tender and the tips of some of the florets are browned.

Near the end of the roasting time, whisk together 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, Parmesan, and basil. Once the florets are finished, place in a serving bowl and toss with the mixture.  Serve hot.


Myrtle's Note:  The original recipe calls for roasted pine nuts.  Caring not for them, I omitted them.  I also adjusted the proportions.

Yield: 4


Modified from:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/parmesan-roasted-broccoli-recipe/index.html