The Orange Kitchen

Roast Potato and Broccoli Soup with Crispy Salt and Pepper Tofu.

I love broccoli. Like, I get that it's a bit of a controversial vegetable and I'm sure there's a decent number of you who read the title of this recipe and went 'nope nope NOPE' but guess what? That's your loss because broccoli is, objectively speaking, the tastiest and this soup is a testament to that!

Two days ago in Australia, it was summer. Today, we live in the depths of the Siberian winter. Very fun, thank you weather overlords. Anyways. The flow on effect of that wild weather change is that soup is back in season, which I guess is a pretty big positive to take out of the situation because soup is quite yum. I'm a long time fan of a very classic pumpkin soup, however I though this winter I should branch out and make some new types of soup. So, with that in mind, I thought I'd kick things off with a homage to my favourite vegetable - broccoli!

This soup is super easy to make - you only need one oven tray and a blender. Basically you roast everything which will make your house smell absolutely fantastic, and then you blend it (sans tofu) and voila! You're done! It's also LOADED with vegetables, which is amazing because eating your veggies is cool. Fact.

Now, moving on, we need to talk about the crispy salt and pepper tofu. This stuff is THE BUSINESS. Get round it my friends, cause this tofu will change your life! At the last minute before I put it in the oven it occurred to me that panko breadcrumbs would probably make the tofu crispier and therefore tastier and HOT DIDDLY DAMN that was an EPIPHANY! Life changing, I'm telling you! It took all my self restraint to not eat it all straight off the oven tray! But, that restraint was well worth it because on top of the soup, the tofu is, shockingly, even better! So crispy. SO GOOD! Make it now, put it on your soup, change your life. Easy peasy!

Ingredients;

1 large potato, cut into cubes
1 leek, washed and cut into discs approx. 2cm thick
1 brown onion, roughly diced
Salt
Pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large head broccoli
10 - 15 leaves fresh sage

450gm firm tofu
Salt
Pepper
1 tbsp cornflower
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp panko breadcrumbs

2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 cup spinach

1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Take a large oven tray and line it with baking paper/parchment. Put the diced potato, leek and onion on the tray, then season with salt and pepper to taste and olive oil. Mix everything through to make sure it's all got some olive oil on it for optimum oven roasting, then put that tray in the oven for 30 minutes.
3. Roughly chop the broccoli into florets. I also use the stalk, which I dice into cubes approx. 2cm square.
4. After 30 minutes, remove the tray from the oven and add the broccoli to the tray, mixing everything through together. Place back in the oven for a further 30 minutes.
5. While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the tofu. You will need to remove it from the packaging and pat it dry with some absorbent paper/paper towel. Then cut it into bit size cubes and put it in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then add in the cornflower. Mix the tofu around to make sure the pieces are coated in the cornflower, then add in the olive oil. Mix through again, and then add the panko breadcrumbs, giving the tofu one final mix through.
6. When the veggies are roasted, remove them from the oven and transfer them into a large blender.
7. Spread the tofu cubes out on the same baking tray that you roasted the vegetables on, then place in the oven (at the same temperature) and bake for 30 minutes.
8. Take the blender with the veggies in it and add the vegetable stock in. Blend on high speed for several minutes until the mixture is completely smooth and creamy. Add in the chilli flakes and the spinach, blend again for several minutes more.
9. When the soup is blended and the tofu is cooked, serve up a bowl topped with the crispy salt and pepper tofu. I like to add a sprinkle of chilli flakes and cracked black pepper too, but that's entirely optional! Enjoy!!!