Rosie Makes Cream Of Broccoli Soup.

Sunday afternoon lunch. I'm still in soup mode.

I made a Cream of Broccoli soup. 

Cheddar cheese and bacon could make tripe soup taste good. Actually, I don't know about that. I've heard nasty things about tripe though. See Carol Blymire's post from CarolCooksKeller, her foray through The French Laundry cookbook, about her tripe experience here. Here's one of the posted comments about tripe:

Anonymous said...

Tripe is normally an excellent dish--it was one of my most favorite foods when I was a child--so I think your main problem was that you forgot scald the tripe prior to cooking it. You could wash it with water for as long as you wanted to, but it wouldn't remove the less-than-tasty things soaked into the tripe while the animal was alive (or dead, for that matter). Scalding allows those nasty liquids to escape, and should remove any foul odor or taste that one might encounter while cooking tripe--as in this case. Cleaned properly, well-prepared tripe is absolutely heavenly. I would highly recommend trying again if you're brave enough. And if not, I would suggest asking someone who knows how to cook it well to show you.

So it can't be all bad. And when Carol lost a bet and actually had to eat tripe, she went to Bibiana in DC, after reading a review, had a bowl of Menudo (tripe soup) and she actually liked it. One of these days, I'm going to buy some and try it myself. And you'll never know, Mr. Hawthorne. Heh heh heh. Rosie grins evilly and rubs her hands together.

Rosie's Cream of Broccoli Soup 
 1 head broccoli, finely chopped 
1 carrot, minced
 1 celery stalk, minced
 1/2 onion, finely chopped
 1 quart homemade chicken consomee 
1/2 cup + heavy cream
 1/4 cup flour 
3 TB butter
 6 strips bacon, cut into pieces 
cheddar cheese 
 Fry bacon pieces. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels. Add butter. When melted, add all veggies. Cook about 2 minutes. Add in flour. Cook 1-2 minutes. Slowly add in chicken consomme, stirring to thicken. Add in cream. Heat through. Serve with grated cheese and bacon bits. 
 

I cut the bacon into pieces and fried 'em up ... ... until they were crispy. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Save the bacon grease to saute the veggies in.

Mince the carrots and celery, finely chop the onions, and peel, trim, and chop the broccoli.

I added a few tablespoons of butter to the bacon grease, melted it, then added in the veggies.

Cook for about 2 minutes.

Add in the flour ...

and cook for about a minute or two to cook off the raw taste of flour.

Slowly add in the chicken consomme, stirring, to thicken.

Add in 1/2 cup or more heavy cream.

Top with grated cheddar and bacon bits.

My tummy is happy now.

All right. You don't have to use homemade chicken consomme. You can use c..ca...canned chicken broth. Rosie shudders.

Enjoy.