Thursday's Broccoli Cheese Soup

This soup started with the typical saute of onion, carrot and celery in butter. Once softened, flour was added and cooked for a little before the chicken stock was added and simmered for a few minutes. Some shredded American cheese went in next and was stirred until melted. Lots of freshly blanched broccoli joined the party and everything got seasoned with a little cayenne pepper and salt. This was a pretty soup, golden in color with the specks of orange carrots, green celery and bright green broccoli. It tasted as great as it looked.

Our side dish was an apple and walnut salad. The vinaigrette was made first by combining white wine vinegar, olive oil, chopped fresh chives, sugar, salt and cayenne pepper and then some heavy cream was whisked in. The salad was radicchio, slices of a Granny Smith apple and sugared walnuts all tossed with some of the vinaigrette.

Both dishes worked really well together!