Broccoli Soup with Chevre

After a couple of luxurious soups for my weekly lunches i decided to cut back, go back to basics, and make a nice, healthy soup for this week's lunches. But... well i couldn't help myself.

Don't get me wrong, this soup REALLY is as simple as they come. Excluding salt and water, this soup is comprised of just two ingredients: broccoli and goats cheese.

Chevre is the French word for goat, and logically, chevre refers in Australia as a type of goats cheese. Rich and creamy, ash covered chevre adds a very distinct note to this dish and is available at any good delicatessen.

This dish is derived from a youtube video i watched from the venerable and terrifying Gordon Ramsey. His logic is sound: why should a broccoli soup need to be tainted and overdone with stocks and creams? He lets the broccoli speak to itself, and the goatiness of the cheese come through as a faint flavor throughout. I agree- to a point. This soup is a wonderful starter or palate cleanser, but it lacks the 'oomph' required to be a main course.

Ingredients (Serves 6 as entree)

• 5 heads brocolli
• 200gm goats chevre, ash covered
• Salt
• Olive oil (optional) to finish

Method:

Place a large pot of salted water on to boil. 
Cut the brocolli into florettes.

When the water is at a rolling boil, add the brocolli and cover.
Return to the boil and cook for 4 minutes.

Drain the brocolli, keeping the water. 
Transfer the brocolli to a blender in patches, blending until smooth with about 3 cups of the cooking water in total.
Check for seasoning and add more salt if required

Slice the chevre into chunks.

Serve the soup with slices of chevre on top and a drizzle of good olive oil.