You will love this healthy yet delicious broccoli soup served with a topping of nut and olive pesto. This soup is nutrient-dense and full of antioxidants, plus it's Paleo, Whole30, gluten-free and vegan-friendly. It's easy to make and is great for batch cooking and freezing.
Ingredients
For broccoli soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 celery stick diced
- 0.7 lb. white potato 350 g, peeled and diced
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 1 cup water 250 ml
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 large head broccoli broken into florets (sliced large florets in half)
- 3 cloves garlic diced
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
For the nut & olive pesto
- 1/2 cup nuts I used walnuts, Brazil nuts and almonds
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup diced green olives I used 6 large, meaty Greek green olives
Instructions
- Add olive oil, onion, salt and lemon zest to a large saucepan and heat over medium heat. Sauté for 3 minutes until softened and lightly golden.
- Add celery and diced potatoes, stir and cook together for a minute.
- Add the stock, water, and cumin powder and stir through. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, then add the broccoli, garlic, pepper and bay leaves. Cover with a lid and bring the heat to high. Cook for 5 minutes until broccoli has softened but hasn't lost its green colour.
- Remove from heat and transfer the contents of the soup - in batches - to a food processor or a blender (remove the bay leaves). Process into a smooth puree, then return to the saucepan and add stir in the lemon juice.
- While the soup is cooking, prepare the pesto. Place the nuts into a food processor with an S-blade attachment and grind into crumbs. Add the rest of the ingredients and process together until ground up and blended into a course, pesto-like consistency. Remove to a bowl.
- Serve the soup in bowls with a tablespoon of pesto stirred in.
Notes
- Instead of using the vegetable stock and water combo, you can use 1.5 litres of water and two organic, natural vegetable stock cubes. If the stock you’re using is quite salty, reduce the amount of salt added at the beginning and taste for seasoning at the end instead.
- Beef or chicken bone broth is also fantastic to use and will make this soup even more nourishing.
- You can use cauliflower instead of broccoli.
Nutrition
Calories: 388kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Sodium: 1767mg | Potassium: 999mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1548IU | Vitamin C: 158mg | Calcium: 116mg | Iron: 3mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @cookedandloved or tag #cookedandloved