Chefs don’t throw anything away. So, whenever I clean fresh broccoli, the stems go in the freezer for later use in casseroles and soups. Here’s a great way to use broccoli stems.

by Chef Tina Martini, The Medicine Chef

It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This week’s soup is chock full of relevant and beneficial medicine. Stay tuned. Next week, we’ll make some bread that will be the perfect accompaniment for this delicious “Pinktober” bowl of breast cancer prevention.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Tbls grapeseed oil
• 1 1/2 Tbls butter or Earth Balance vegan butter
• 1/4 cup all purpose gluten-free flour or conventional AP flour (So many good G-F AP flours now!)
• 1 Tbls butter (to saute the onions)
• 1/3 cup yellow onion, diced
• 2 tsps dried basil
• 3 medium broccoli stalks, separate the florets into bite sized pieces and set aside, rough chop stems
• 3 vegan chicken bouillon cubes ( I use Edward & Sons Not-Chick’n Broth and Seasoning)
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 heavy cream or reduce 3/4 cup unsweetened full-fat almond milk down to appx. 2/3 cup for vegan recipe
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper (white pepper is floral, and brings out the broccoli flavor nicely. Black works, if that’s what you have)

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, sauté onions in 1 Tbl butter until soft and lightly golden.
2. Add basil to pan and cook 30 seconds just to release the aroma. Do not brown. Set aside.
3. In a stockpot, make your roux. Heat grapeseed oil and butter over medium heat.
4. Whisk in flour and stir until thick and creamy looking. 1-2 minutes.
5. Slowly add water to the roux, whisking to avoid any lumps.
6. Add broccoli stems, onions/basil sauté, bouillon cubes, and first round of salt.
7. Bring soup to light boil. Cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste.
8. Blend soup until smooth, then put back into stockpot.
9. Add your beautifully manicured broccoli florets, reduce heat to medium and cook 4-5 minutes, or until florets are tender.
10. Turn off heat, stir in cream and season for service.

Phyto Facts

Sulforaphane gives broccoli its distinctive scent. You may notice that broccoli doesn’t smell as strongly as it did 10 years ago. Sales of broccoli went down and there were many consumer complaints about the strong smell. In response, the agriculture industry decided to breed the odor (caused by sulforaphane) out of the plant. This phytonutrient is the reason broccoli is thought to be the number one food in the fight against breast cancer. It’s also being studied as a treatment for autism. We want the whole house to smell like sulfur when we cook broccoli! Broccoli is also very high in quercetin. This prevents clotting disorders, reduces injury and stress related trauma. Quercitin-high foods work really well against hormone based cancers and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Fat is required to uptake these phytonutrients. The cream is a great carrier for our phytos and also is a great source of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), one of nature’s most powerful liver cleansers. Bye-bye toxins! ALA also has some serious antioxidant properties in general. Basil contains apigenin, more hormone balancing magic!  Onions and garlic with their allium compounds are at the top of the cancer fighting list. These inhibit the growth of cancer cells. 

by Chef Tina Martini, “The Medicine Chef” @MedicineChef | Facebook Chef Martini is an experienced, well-versed television personality with a successful and proven track record. She holds a doctorate from Bastyr University in Naturopathy and a Nutrition degree from San Diego State University. She mixes cooking with nutrition, fitness and wellness!