Cream of Broccoli Soup - The Way Mom Made It

Years ago, my mom went to a gourmet cooking course at the Algonquin Hotel in St. Andrew's NB. Once a week she and a couple of ladies from our town would drive to St. Andrews and spend the evening making delicious foods and wandering around the walk-in refrigerator. Then she would come home and make these recipes for us.

You must keep in mind that this was the 1980s, so what was gourmet then might be considered mainstream now.
There were a few recipes that stuck and which I still make are:
1. Bacon wrapped Chicken Breasts stuffed with cream cheese and chives. (quite tasty, really)
2. Cream of Broccoli Soup.

Last night when looking through my refrigerator, I discovered that Mr. Happy had purchased two heads of broccoli at the grocery store. I decided to make the soup, since I haven't made it in years...

There is no real "recipe" just instructions, so here you go:

Steph's Mom's Cream of Broccoli Soup

Ingredients:

• a head of broccoli
• 1 large or 2 skinny carrots
• onion - ummmm... I think I used about 3/4 of a cup
• butter
• chicken stock
• Salt and pepper

Tools:

• Knife
• Cutting board
• Large pot with cover
• food processor

Instructions:

• Wash and chop broccoli - I peel the large stalk and throw it in as well - if you don't peel it, your soup will have very fibrous pieces of broccoli that don't always get chopped up in the processor.
  
• Peel, wash and chop carrots and onion.
  
• Throw all veggies into the pot with about 1/8 C of butter.
  
• Turn on burner to medium and cover the pot. Allow the vegetables to "sweat" (J? Is that the correct term?)... I don't remember how long this takes so keep an eye on everything so you don't burn the butter or your veggies. You'll know that your veggies are "sweating" once they have turned "bright" (their colours, not their candle power).
  
• Add chicken stock to the pot, but only just enough to reach the top layer of veggies.
  
• Add salt and pepper. I put in about 3/4 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper.
  
• Simmer until the vegetables are soft.
  
• Take the pot off the heat - allow to cool.
  
• Process the vegetables in your food processor OR use your handy dandy submersible wand blender thingy.
  
• It will look like baby vomit or alien poop. If you added too many carrots, it will be a particularly vile colour.
  
• This is your concentrated soup.

To serve:

• In either individual bowls or in a saucepan, thin the concentrated soup to your liking with cream or milk or whatever you prefer. I use 1% milk, which helps to counteract the richness of the butter. I think we used to do a 3:1 ratio soup: milk. Do whatever makes you happy.
  
• Heat on the stove top or in the microwave.
  
• You can serve it with a bit of grated cheese, or just on its own.

The concentrated soup can be frozen.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got plans for the rest of that broccoli.