Cream of Broccoli Soup

CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP:
Ingredients:
1 big bunch of broccoli..cut the flowers and discard the stems.
5 cups water
1 cube chicken, vegetable or beef stock..I used chicken cube stock
4 tbsp butter or margarine
4 tbsp flour
Ground black pepper
Salt
1 cup cream

Method:
In a pot, add the water, chicken stock cube and bring to a boil.
Once it comes to a boil, add the broccoli flower and cook for a few minutes.
Then remove about 5 broccoli flower when they are almost tender and place them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
Continue cooking the remaining broccoli.
While the broccoli is cooking, take another pt and place it on a medium heat stove, add the butter.
Once the butter is somewhat hot add the flour and mix thoroughly, this is called a ROUX, it acts as a thickening agent.
Once your roux (flour and butter) is well mixed, add half of the liquid from the broccoli and whisk it well on medium low heat.
Then mash up the remaining broccoli that is cooking and add it to the roux along with any remaining liquid.
Mix well and continue cooking on medium high heat stove.
Now drain the broccoli that is in the ice bath and dry out any water.
Next add the cup of cream to the broccoli soup and mix well.
Add some salt and ground black pepper. Now mix the soup with an immersion hand blender but away from the stove.
Then return the pot on to the stove and continue cooking.
Cook for a few minutes stirring constantly so the soup doesn’t stick to the pan.
The soup is ready to be served.
Pour the sup in a serving bowl and garnish with the broccoli that you placed in the ice bath..
Serve the soup with a slice of toasted bread.
Enjoy!!