Broccoli Velouté Soup

It just occurred to me I haven't shared a recipe the entire month of April! Well, maybe you'll forgive me when you hear why. We just went to contract on our very first home! Aaaaaaah!

We are so excited and can't WAIT for moving day to come. Pretty soon I will have a nice big kitchen with tons of LIGHT and WINDOWS! No more underexposed food photos for you all! (The kitchen is HORRIBLY outdated, but that will be one of our first projects to tackle this year.)

Anywho, these past few months have been jam packed with house hunting and then the process of going to contract so I guess I haven't really put much thought into endeavoring to come up with new food ideas. I've been battling a cold on and off and last week it came back with a vengeance. I know the weather is warming up, but my throat was killing me and I was in the mood for something warm and soothing. When I looked in my fridge, it was pretty bare. I didn't even have any meat defrosted. Nothing! I did have a bag of broccoli florets that was on its way out the door if it didn't get made right away. I'd been wanting to make a broccoli soup for years so I thought this was the perfect opportunity.

Velouté is a fancy french way of saying "velvety" (or creamy). And I'm fancy like that.

Ingredients

• 1 - 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 stalks of celery, sliced
• 1 large onion, diced about the size of your celery
• 5 cloves garlic, sliced
• 8 - 10 cups broccoli florets
• 4 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1Tbsp dried thyme
• 1 can full fat coconut milk (cream separated from the water*)
• salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste 

1.  Heat oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot over medium-high heat.
2. Saute the onion and celery until softened about 5+ minutes. 
3. Add garlic and cook another 30 seconds or so until the garlic becomes fragrant (don't let it get browned as it may turn bitter).
4. Add the broccoli, broth, water, and thyme to the pot and crank the heat up to bring the pot to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the broccoli is tender (8 - 10min or so).
5. When you're satisfied the vegetables are soft enough, puree the soup with a stick blender or a regular blender (you may have to split it into batches with a regular blender). Stir the coconut cream in very well and then season to taste with salt and pepper (try starting with 1tsp salt and go from there).
6. Serve hot!

*When either left sitting alone long enough, or chilled in the fridge, coconut milk will naturally separate with the creamy solids rising to the top and the clear water gathering in the bottom. DON'T SHAKE UP YOUR CAN OF COCONUT MILK! Carefully open the top and spoon the creamy portion into a small bowl or liquid measuring cup. You should be left with about 1 cup of creamy solids which we'll use to make the soup "velouté" (you can do whatever you like with the leftover water). I promise the soup won't taste like a piña colada.

The creamy solids rise to the top.

You'll get about a cup of cream before you hit clear water.

BLEND WELL!