Best Broccoli Soup

Late April and spring is happening outside the window like a play I cannot attend — the dogwoods blooming on Prospect Avenue, the magnolias opening their impossible flowers, the grass turning green with the determination of a plant that does not watch the news. Spring does not care about the pandemic. Spring is on its own schedule. I envy the spring. I envy the magnolias. I envy anything that is allowed to open.

At the hospital, we served our millionth pandemic meal this week — I did not count, the number is metaphorical, but the quantity is real: we are serving four hundred meals a day to patients and six hundred to staff, which is double the normal staff count because the nurses are pulling double shifts and the residents are sleeping in the hospital and everyone is eating in the cafeteria because eating at the cafeteria is the only normal thing left. My kitchen feeds a thousand people a day. A thousand. That is more than Abuela Consuelo fed, more than Mami fed, more than any Delgado woman has fed, and I hold that number with the same pride and the same exhaustion and I keep going because stopping is not an option and has never been an option.

Mami had a bad week. Sofía, who checks on her every day — Sofía, who is twenty and studying to be a nurse and is therefore the family's expert on how to visit safely — said Mami was confused more often than not, asking for people who aren't there, asking to go home to Bayamón, asking where Carmen is even when Sofía says, Abuela, Carmen comes every day. The fog is winning. The fog has been winning for a year, slowly, and the pandemic has accelerated the loss because isolation accelerates everything bad and slows everything good and Mami is alone in that apartment more hours than she has ever been alone in her life and the loneliness is eating her memory the way termites eat a house — from the inside, invisibly, until the structure is too weak to stand.

I made asopao on Thursday and brought it to her door and knocked and waited and she opened the door and she said, Marisol, you brought soup. I said, It's Carmen, Mami. She said, Carmen. Yes. Carmen. The repetition of my name, the way she tasted it, tested it, placed it — that was the worst part. Not the forgetting. The remembering that required effort. The effort that used to be unnecessary.

Asopao is what I reach for when words fail — when the fog has taken too much and the only thing I can offer is warmth through a door. That Thursday I did not have time to make asopao from scratch the way Mami taught me, the way her mother taught her, so I made the thing I knew I could finish before my next shift: a pot of thick, honest broccoli soup, green and filling and real, the kind of soup that says I was here, I thought of you, eat something. It is not asopao. But it is soup, and soup is love in its most practical form, and practical love is what this year has asked of all of us.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium stalks celery, chopped
1 large head broccoli (about 1 1/2 lbs), cut into florets, stems peeled and chopped
3 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for serving
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Salt and black pepper to taste
Crusty bread or crackers, for serving

Instructions

Sauté the aromatics. Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Add broccoli and broth. Add the broccoli florets and chopped stems to the pot. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the broccoli is completely tender, about 15 minutes.
Blend the soup. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup directly in the pot to your desired consistency — fully smooth or leaving some texture. Alternatively, carefully transfer in batches to a blender and blend, then return to the pot.
Add dairy and cheese. Reduce heat to low. Stir in the milk and heavy cream. Add the shredded cheddar a handful at a time, stirring until fully melted before adding the next. Do not let the soup boil after adding the cheese.
Season and finish. Stir in the smoked paprika and nutmeg. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. If the soup is thicker than you like, add broth a splash at a time until it reaches the consistency you want.
Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with extra shredded cheddar. Serve hot with crusty bread. This soup keeps well refrigerated for up to 4 days and reheats gently over low heat.

Nutrition (per serving)

Best Broccoli Soup — The Bowl I Brought to the Door