I have a green holiday vegetarian soup for you today! It’s the easy, velvet smooth, and tasty broccoli soup with potatoes and other vegetables for the little hands, but also a nutritious starter for a family dinner. The rainy, cold weather has brought with it the spirit of Christmas, and that’s how I remembered this soup, from quite some time ago, since it was one of my first posts in @littlehands_blw. Back then, I wrote that “the little hands ate it easily, and the mother owl watched proudly as the spoon accurately reached the mouth!” The little hands used to be 15 months old back then. This year, they didn’t really want to eat it, but I wanted to share this recipe, that has made even the biggest enemies of broccoli eat it.
What we are going to need
- Vegetables. Of course, a broccoli soup will mainly need broccoli, but our soup has more vegetables as well. These include potatoes, leeks, carrots, garlic, and celery.
- Olive oil. If you make it for a holiday lunch or dinner, you can add some butter (100%) besides olive oil during the first sautéing for a richer taste.
- Water. If you have a broth of some kind, it’s a good alternative that will give it an even richer flavor and make the soup more nutritious.
- Spices. Ginger, coriander, paprika, plenty of pepper and salt for children over the age of one.
Tips & storage
- The broccoli soup can be made in a pot, but it can also be made in a pressure cooker. The pressure cooker makes cooking faster and the soup can be ready in just 5 minutes, something useful during the holidays when there’s much to do and very little time to do it.
- The vegetables can be chopped in thick or thin pieces, and this will only affect the time of preparation and cooking. In the end, it doesn’t matter if you cut them thick or thin, since the soup will be blended smooth to achieve a velvety texture.
- For infants that are only now starting to eat solid foods, instead of sautéing in the first step, steam the onion and add the olive oil at the end.
- Depending on how thick or clear you want your soup, adjust the quantity of water you’ll add. When the little hands were a baby, I made thicker soups to avoid accidents and grouchiness, as he was eating by himself from early on. So, depending on your taste and needs, add 1.5 liters of water, or more.
- Serve the soup with additional raw olive oil, lemon, and yogurt, grated cheese, cashew cream, or heavy cream. If you serve it in a holiday dinner, you can add a good quality sausage or some Cretan apaki, but if you’re serving children, make sure you either know the maker or manufacturer and have requested meat with less salt, or simply skip it.
How to offer it during baby-lead weaning?
If your baby is following the baby-led weaning method, offer the broccoli soup in preloaded spoons. What does that mean? Fill the spoons and leave them in front of the baby so that they take it and lead it to their mouth. Ideally, start this process with preloaded spoons at six months of age.
How the little hands can help
- Initially, by washing, cleaning, and cutting the vegetables. Always with you next to them.
- Then, by adding (under your watchful eye) the vegetables and pasta to the pot, and mix.
- Finally, by blending the vegetables with the immersion blender.
Our bamboo bamboo bowl has silicone and comes with a matching spoon. Find it here with a 10% discount and without customs costs. Read more about our favorite plates here.
Check this too
Cut the broccoli in florets, slice the leek in thick slices, and slice the potatoes and the carrot in thinner slices.
In a large pot, add the olive oil, then the leeks, the carrot, the potatoes, the garlic, and the spices, and sauté for 3–4 minutes over medium heat.
Add 1/2 a liter of water until it’s covering the vegetables and boil for 10 minutes. If you make the soup in a pressure cooker, add all ingredients now and close the cooker, boiling for 5–6 minutes, timed from when the valve rises.
Add the broccoli and the celery, and the rest of the water, and boil in high heat for an additional 12–15 minutes.
Remove from the heat and blend with the immersion blender until the soup reaches a velvety texture. For a thicker soup, add to a total of 1.5 liters of water instead of 1.7.
If you need to, add more water.
Serve warm with some yogurt, additional olive oil, and lemon.
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the broccoli in florets, slice the leek in thick slices, and slice the potatoes and the carrot in thinner slices.
In a large pot, add the olive oil, then the leeks, the carrot, the potatoes, the garlic, and the spices, and sauté for 3–4 minutes over medium heat.
Add 1/2 a liter of water until it’s covering the vegetables and boil for 10 minutes. If you make the soup in a pressure cooker, add all ingredients now and close the cooker, boiling for 5–6 minutes, timed from when the valve rises.
Add the broccoli and the celery, and the rest of the water, and boil in high heat for an additional 12–15 minutes.
Remove from the heat and blend with the immersion blender until the soup reaches a velvety texture. For a thicker soup, add to a total of 1.5 liters of water instead of 1.7.
If you need to, add more water.
Serve warm with some yogurt, additional olive oil, and lemon.
Notes
Αυτό το περιεχόμενο χορηγείται με άδεια Creative Commons Αναφορά Δημιουργού-Μη Εμπορική Χρήση-Όχι Παράγωγα Έργα 4.0 Διεθνές .
Το περιεχόμενο αυτού του blog αποτελεί πνευματική ιδιοκτησία της εταιρίας LITTLE HANDS BLW. Συνεπώς, ΑΠΑΓΟΡΕΥΕΤΑΙ κάθε αναδημοσίευση, αντιγραφή ή τροποποίηση του χωρίς την έγγραφη συγκατάθεση της εταιρίας. Εάν ενδιαφέρεστε για το περιεχόμενο του blog, μπορείτε να επικοινωνήσετε μαζί μας για να συζητήσουμε πως θα μπορούσαμε να συνεργαστούμε.
