Broccoli-Potato Soup

It’s early June in the Pacific Northwest, which means there are days that feel a lot like autumn: rainy, cool, and calling for a soup for supper. So I peered in the refrigerator, looking for inspiration, and found two heads of rather elderly broccoli—ah ha! Broccoli soup! Just the thing.

Broccoli-Potato Soup

2 pounds broccoli with stems
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 russet potato, scrubbed and roughly chopped
1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
1 medium carrot, sliced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
4-5 cups mushroom stock
2 cups fresh or frozen green peas
1⁄8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)
14 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup miso paste, thinned with a bit of water (taste and add more if needed)

Cut the broccoli into large pieces, keeping the florets separate from the stems. Peel any very tough stems.

Place the stems in a Dutch oven and add the onion, potato, celery, carrot, garlic, smoked paprika, and mushroom stock. Bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the broccoli florets and peas to the pot and cook until the broccoli is very tender, about 15 minutes. Use an immersion blender to purée the soup in the pot until smooth.

Add more stock if necessary, so that the consistency of the soup is moderately thick. Stir in the cayenne pepper, lemon juice, tarragon, nutritional yeast, and miso, and bring to a simmer.

Turn off heat and serve immediately with warm whole wheat rolls.