A smooth, fresh broccoli soup for small bowls as a starter. Lemon oil gives the mild soup a bright flavor, while toasted almond crumble adds a crunchy bite.
Broccoli is clearly the star here: the soup gets its body from the vegetable itself, not from cream or potato. Onion rounds out the flavor without overpowering the broccoli. Use the peeled stalk too; cut it into small cubes so it cooks at the same time as the florets. In the Netherlands, locally grown broccoli is mainly available in the warmer months, but it is generally easy to find imported broccoli in other seasons. Choose a firm head with compact, dark green florets and a stalk that doesn’t look dried out.
The short cooking time matters for both flavor and color. Cook the broccoli until tender, but no longer than necessary: as soon as a knife tip slides easily through the stalk, take the pan off the heat. Cooking it for too long dulls the vegetable’s color and gives the soup a heavier, cabbage-like flavor. Blend it straight away until smooth with an immersion blender. A powerful blender works too, but blend hot soup in batches and hold the lid firmly in place with a tea towel between your hand and the lid, so steam can escape.
Lemon works in two ways. The juice goes into the soup and cuts through its mild, vegetal flavor; the zest gives the olive oil a fragrant citrus note. Preferably use an unsprayed lemon and grate only the yellow part of the peel, as the white layer underneath can taste bitter. Taste the soup after adding the juice and add another squeeze if needed. Broth varies in saltiness from brand to brand, so season with salt only at the end.
Almonds add a toasted, nutty contrast to the smooth soup. Chop them coarsely so some recognizable pieces remain after toasting. Stir them regularly as they toast, and take them out of the pan as soon as they smell lightly golden; they’ll continue to darken quickly off the heat. Don’t have almonds? Coarsely chopped hazelnuts work well too. For a nut-free version, you can use pumpkin seeds, though the flavor will be less rounded and nutty.
Serve the soup in small bowls and finish each portion with a drizzle of lemon oil and the almond crumble, so the topping stays crunchy. A piece of sourdough bread is all you need alongside; keep the portion modest if a main course is still to come. Let leftovers cool quickly, cover and refrigerate them, and use within two days. Reheat gently until the soup is piping hot throughout, then add the almond crumble.
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion gently for 4 minutes without letting it brown.
Add the broccoli and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 5–7 minutes, until the stalk is tender but the broccoli still looks bright green.
Meanwhile, toast the almonds in a dry frying pan over medium heat. Stir regularly and take them off the heat as soon as they are lightly golden.
Stir the lemon zest into the extra-virgin olive oil. Set aside. Blend the soup until smooth with an immersion blender.
First stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into the soup. Taste and add more juice if you like; season with salt and pepper.
Ladle the soup into four small bowls. Drizzle with the lemon oil and divide the toasted almond crumble among the portions.
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