Broccoli Cheddar Soup

When my spouse moved in to my house almost 10 years ago, he informed me that soup is never a complete meal. It just doesn't have enough substance. 

It took him about 6 months to audibly revise that opinion and start asking for various of my soups for dinner. 

Personally, I have a soft spot for Broccoli Cheddar Soup - I grew up on the Panera (Ok, St. Louis Bread Co., Panera didn't exist yet) version in a bread bowl probably once a week during the busy season.  And last night, I pulled out the instant pot version I've been using for the last several years and went "you know, I should probably actually post my revisions somewhere for bad executive function days."

I started with this Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe from Whole Belly, but I've never been able to resist making changes. In this case, it is to skip the roux, add some protein, and make it easy on the stove. Even without the roux, this makes a...substantive soup.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

1 medium onion finely diced

2 cups roughly diced/shredded carrots

1T garlic minced (roughly 2 cloves, but garlic is a vegetable, add more if desired)

2 medium to large potatoes, roughly chopped

1 can chickpeas or white beans, drained

6 cups vegetable stock

1 tsp paprika

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

3 cups/2 crowns broccoli florets, divided evenly into 2 (a bag of frozen is the right size, even if they don't fit nicely into the cup measures) 

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded

½ cup milk

Put the onion, carrots, garlic, potatoes, beans, and stock on the stove on a medium high heat for 10 min after it comes to a boil or in the IP for 1 min of low pressure and quick release. Then add half the broccoli to the pot, then turn off the head, and blend. I use my stick blender so I don't have to transfer boiling hot liquid, but a food processor or counter top blender also works. Blend until mostly smooth. Add the rest of the broccoli, cheese, and milk and stir for a minute or two, until the broccoli cooks or thaws and the cheese melts. Makes 6-8 servings, technically. Usually serves 3-4 for dinner, as most people have seconds.

Cheese pie crust

 I've written before about doing gf pasties and how one needs to doctor the crust for robustness in handling - gf pie crust is just too light and flaky. 

A while ago, I started making my savory pie crusts with shredded cheese as the internal structure/scaffolding that was lost without gluten. 

You can use any kind of shredded cheese in this, my best results are in medium to hard cheeses. Also, because I'm cheap, the difference between store brand bulk cheddar and mozzarella and the fancy stuff is very much not worth it here. 

This is originally based on Bob's Red Mill GF Easy-as-pie recipe, but shifted. Different GF AP blends are more hydrophilic than others, so may want more liquid. Someone of them are less hydrophilic than wheat, so it all depends on flour and the ambient weather

Also, parchment paper is your friend when working with GF dough. Do your rolling between two sheets of parchment paper so it doesn't stick to most things 

Cheese crusts

1.5 cups GF AP or 1 to 1 flour blend

1 stick (1/2c) butter, grated or diced

A pinch of salt

1/2 c shredded cheese

1/4c milk (maybe more maybe less)

Mix butter and flour until the texture is that of coarse sand or polenta/grits. Add salt, cheese and milk, and mix until it comes into a dough. For a two crust pie: Divide 2/3s v 1/3rd between the parchment paper and roll out into your base crust. 

Flip one rolled out piece into your pie pan & roll out the remaining pie crust for the lid. Bake as normal for whatever recipe.

Spinach Pie

When you cook gluten free, it turns out that Spanikopita is impossible to find and a pain in the butt to make, because GF phyllo dough is the next thing to impossible. 

I've been making a medieval version of Spinach and Cheese Tarts for two decades, and it just last spring occurred to me that I could put spanikopita filling in a pie crust.

And then I had to find a filling recipe that I liked. 

And then tweak it...more than a little. 

Mostly because I started with Bon Appetit's spanikopita recipe and I don't have the budget or energy to go for fancy (fresh) ingredients, this needs to be made with what I consider pantry staples. 

So...most people don't consider feta a pantry staple, but I get an 8oz brick from Aldi and we make this just often enough that the sealed brick doesn't start to go off before one of us says "spinach pie for dinner?". You can also freeze it without major consequences to flavor or texture, it's just a pain to have to remember to thaw it before getting started on this recipe. 

I strongly recommend using a cheese crust for this, because it's a little bit more robust against the sogginess of the filling. On the other hand, if what you have is a pair of store bought crusts, use them. 

Fed is best. 

Spinach Pie: 

4 10oz bricks of spinach or 6 cups of frozen chopped spinach

¼ c olive oil

2 onions, diced/1.5 c diced onion/shallots/leeks

½ c pine nuts

Glob of minced garlic (at least 1T. Garlic is a vegetable. Increase as desired)

Salt and pepper

2 eggs

2 c crumbled feta and/or goat cheese

¼ c grated parmesan

1 T dried basil

1 T dried dill

2 tsp dried oregano

1 T lemon juice

2 pie crusts

Preheat the oven to 375. Start the spinach thawing in the microwave- we don't need it cooked, we need it to release most of the frozen water so we can drain it off. 

While the spinach is thawing, sauté the onion/scallions/garlic in the olive oil until translucent, then add the pine nuts for a minute or two before taking off the heat. 

Drain the water off the thawed spinach, as much as possible. Light squeezing is acceptable Add sautéed veg to the spinach and mix- this will cool down the onions/alliums enough that they won't cook the eggs/cheese when you get there, but also finish the thawing process on the spinach. Now add in cheese, eggs, herbs, salt & pepper, and lemon juice. If it feels runny/really liquid, add parmesan or flour or another egg to help as binder. 

Add filling to pie crust, cover with second pie crust, and bake for 40-50 min, until the crusts are starting to go tan. Then *let stand* for at least 10 min so that when you cut it, it mostly holds it's shape.