Lots of leftover cauliflower, broccoli, etc. from wedding

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My oldest daughter was married Saturday (Yay!) and we had a brunch reception or picnic on Sunday and have lots of leftovers of veggies and fruits and such. I hate to throw out food so I’m going to puree most of the fruits into smoothies and freeze in bags.

For the veggies… - I’ve made cheese-broc soups and I’ve made cheese-cauliflower soups, but I’m trying to time economize and do one soup for both (plus some carrot sticks and celery sticks, but they’re minor amounts compared to broc/caul).

Anyone have thoughts on whether broccoli and cauliflower play well together in a soup with approximately equal amounts of each?

Thanks in advance!

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Yes! I’ve done it myself, and I basically use 1/2 & 1/2 of the 2 veg, but start with sautéed onion, a little celery, carrots, chicken stock, bay leaves, etc. Purée, add roux, milk, cheese, seasonings to taste. Congrats on the wedding!

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I have repeatedly posted our favorite pureed vegetable soups. Combine three vegetables, simmer together until tender then blitz in blender or, our choice, immersion blender. Of course broccoli, cousins, combine well. Or could be separated and turned into separate soups, depending on your quantities, Lambchop’s directions are point on, but you can do much simpler with great results, i.e., no roux, stock. Cream, sour cream (I tend toward Mexican sour cream), and/or butter are never out of line. These soups are our go-to anytime we have a couple of excess veg and/or need lunch.

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Thanks both! I’m still a bit brain dead from the last week and weekend (not to mention early this week - one group of relatives had a car die on them 100 miles up and we had to get that sorted out finally last night) and I really appreciate your help.

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Agree, it can be made simpler. One of my favorite summer soups is to simmer equal amounts of chopped zucchini and yellow squash in a quart of chicken stock, along with an entire bunch of green onions, coarsely chopped. When tender, purée, put back in the pan, add sour cream, cream cheese, & S&P. Really good, so easy!

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Your recipe, precisely!

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Congratulations!

I don’t know what fruits you have, but could freeze as it to bake with too.

Re broccoli + cauliflower together, that’s a no from me. I love cauliflower, I will eat broccoli happily, but put them together and broccoli overwhelms cauliflower - to my palate anyway.

I’ll suggest a non-pureed outcome here too - a gratin aka cauliflower cheese is an easy way to use them up too. And in that context, you could mix it all up, because it’s just vegetables in béchamel sauce.

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I don’t see why they would not play well together but I will give an opinion on a related issue. I have noticed that when I freeze broccoli or cauliflower soup it is better to not put garlic in it. Or at least not too much. It tastes fine while the soup is fresh but once frozen the garlic flavor takes over and not in a good way. Of course, that might just be my taste buds, but my husband has noticed it too. We have not noticed this issue with any other types of soups I freeze.

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Alternatives to soup that will use up quite a bit of broccoli and cauliflower include

veggie -topped appetizer “pizza” - crescent roll crust baked in 9x13 pan, then spread with cream cheese/ranch dressing combo and mixture of chopped veggies.

And this terrific salad with dill dressing. (Quantity is party-sized, I make a 1/4 batch for home)

Broccoli Cauliflower Salad With Dill Dressing

     A 1/4 recipe - fills a 2 Qt casserole

1 bunch Broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces - cjb note - the size of thumbnail or a grape-tomato
1 bunch of cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces
1 container of button mushrooms, sliced
2 pkgs. of green onions, cut in small pieces (slices) - cjb note - about 1 T. for quarter recipe
box of small cherry tomatoes, optional
quarter recipe
Dressing: 1 cup clear vinegar - 1/4C
1 cup canola oil - 1/4 C
4 tsp. dill weed - 1 t.
1 tsp. garlic powder - 1/4 t.
4 tsp. sugar - 1 t.
1 tsp. black pepper - 1/4 t. or less

Combine above. Pour dressing over the vegetables.
Stir before serving to be sure all is coated well.

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They do. After all, they are cousins! I once won a local recipe contest with something I called Broccauli Cheese Soup.

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Congratulations!
I’m assuming that planting them in the backyard wont result in a bunch of broccoli or cauliflower trees down the road? Maybe use the contrasting colors to create a mosaic wedding picture? The soup sounds great, but I have no cooking skills, so that’s all I got.

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I like broccoli and cauli together, but I also frequently use pureed cauliflower (no broccoli) in place of roux as a low-carb base for creamy or “fauxtato” soups. It makes fantastic low carb NE clam chowder.

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One of my favorite appetizers from my Midwestern childhood (in the 80s)!

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congrats on the wedding!!

i haven’t had success mixing them and cook em sorta differently…for lots of extra broccoli here’s what we do, sorta like banchan. make a huge batch and see how fast it gets eaten

half steam florets like 2 minutes max, ice it, and dry em out well in strainer, then toss it with salt, a little sesame oil, a bit of soy, finely diced garlic (if i feel ambitious), then sesame seeds…then eat

we make cauliflower “mashed potato” with finely cut cf, broth and a bit of butter in a fry pan

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You can make a “dip” with broccoli, cauliflower and non-fat greek yogurt.

Chop up some steamed broccoli and cauliflower, mix in generous amounts of yogurt, blend until desired consistency.

Goes great with falafels, as a condiment for gyros, as well as plain old American chips (either potato, corn or tortilla)

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Thanks to everyone for your great suggestions. In the end, I made a cheesy soup (pureed w stick blender) having about equal proportions of the broccoli and cauliflower, plus onion, garlic and heavy on the carrots, with a bit of celery plus the usual assortment of herbs etc.

On the side we had @ScottinPollock’s mayo/garlic/cheesy toast. Great stuff.

The soup actually tastes very much like cheesy asparagus soup. Weird but really good.

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Here’s where Scott posted his garlic bread recipe. I meant to link it earlier.

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