Lost Italian: Continue postholiday detox

Loaded with vegetables and under 225 calories per serving, Sarah's Healthy Broccoli Cheddar Chowder is warm, comforting and nutritiously filling.

(Photos by David Samson / Forum News Service) Continue post-holiday detox with Healthy Broccoli Cheddar Chowder

Our focus on eating well continues this week with my Healthy Broccoli Cheddar Chowder, a low-fat adaptation of the popular soup.

Yes, it’s still possible to find comfort and flavor using low-fat alternatives to heavy cream and highfat cheese. Really.

Making the soup starts off with the usual mix of onion, carrots and celery, and without the use of heavy cream, there are a few tricks you can employ to give this soup its chunky, creamy, chowderlike texture.

First, to thicken the soup, this recipe includes one large potato, cubed, which brings heft and creaminess to every bite. Any potato will work, and I prefer the big, red creamer potatoes for this chowder.

Next, a touch of flour is added, along with dry mustard and cayenne pepper. To remove any taste of flour, I cook it with the potato-vegetable mixture for about two minutes, stirring constantly, before adding the liquid.

For the liquid, you can use either chicken or vegetable stock or broth, or a combination of each. When making soup, I always use a low or no-sodium broth or stock, which allows me to control the amount of salt. However, if you can’t find either, then be sure to taste the soup before adding the amount of salt included in the recipe.

This soup uses both broccoli florets and the stems, which are added in two separate stages as the stems require more time to cook and soften. For convenience, I buy a crown of broccoli, which has already had the stalks removed, rather than a whole bunch. You can find the crowns in most supermarkets, or you can buy an entire bunch and simply remove the stalks, leaving about 2 inches of stems for use in the soup.

Once the broccoli has been cooked into the soup, a portion of the mixture is removed and mashed into a thick, wet, almost pastelike consistency, then added back into the pan. This is an important step in achieving the chowder effect, and you can use either a food masher or wooden spoon to create the mash. At this stage, the soup can be refrigerated for up to two days or frozen for several months before finishing and serving.

And for the final chowder effect, the soup is finished with the addition of reduced-fat cheddar cheese and sour cream, as well as a healthy dash of Worcestershire sauce. The result is a savory, flavorful and creamy vegetable chowder that is rich in vitamins, protein, fiber and minerals, yet low in fat and calories. That’s what we call healthy deliciousness.

For more ideas on eating healthy, follow along online with my 31 Days of Healthy Deliciousness series at goodfoodandwords.com. Sarah’s Healthy Broccoli Cheddar Chowder 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 yellow onion, chopped 1 large carrot, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 1 large red potato, peeled and diced into half-inch cubes 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon dry mustard 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg, or ¼ teaspoon dried 1 quart low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth or stock 1 ½ cups water 1 broccoli crown (about 12 to 16 ounces) 1 cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese, shredded, divided ½ cup reduced-fat sour cream 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce ¼ to ½ teaspoon kosher salt ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Scallions, finely chopped, to garnish Home with the Lost Italian BY SARAH & TONY NASELLO Columnist

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