I’ve been home for a week now. It’s a bit chilly and windy and I’ve been cooped up at home with blankets and candles. So, I’ve been craving warm, comforting foods that pair well with a gray day. One of my favorite things to make and eat in the winter is broccoli cheddar soup. This is my version of the classic recipe, which is often served in a bread bowl. Instead of a bowl, I whipped up a delicious broccoli and cheese galette with cheddar pie dough and rich, cheesy broccoli filling.

Reverse Homesickness

It’s always a weird adjustment coming home from traveling for an extended period. Reverse homesickness is an odd sensation. Your bed, your home, your kitchen, all feel unfamiliar for a few days, until you settle back in. You forget about the mountains of sugar-filled candy at the grocery store and the taste of your favorite foods. The pace of life is different. The weather is different. So, after a week, I’m no longer jet lagged. I’m sleeping well. And I’m diving headfirst into comforting winter cooking.

I love soup. I grew up eating hot haddock chowder with fish that was caught that morning. Pastel orange lobster bisque. My mom makes a meatball and tortellini soup that I crave when I’m cold. And the soup I make most is definitely broccoli cheddar. I’ve spent years making it almost weekly in the winter, and I’ve changed my recipe so many times. Now I think the best version is just broccoli cooked in butter, garlic and onion, then cooked in vegetable stock and cream. After it bubbles away for a while, I blend it with an immersion blender and add cheese.

Getting out of a Creative Rut

So, this week I had a head of broccoli wasting away in the fridge that I was avoiding. I had to first cross off my list of favorite American foods after coming home. And no offense to broccoli, but it was not high up. I made homemade pizza in my pizza oven again, which took some trial and error after a couple months. I made burgers and grilled fish and lots of American breakfast classics. Then, after a few days, I felt a bit stuck in a cooking rut. Which doesn’t happen often. I couldn’t decide what to make for my blog.

Honestly, part of the reason my decision was so hard was because I think a lot about color. My last few recipes have been orange and yellow and brown and I knew I wanted something to offset that pattern. Something bright green, like my green apple dumplings, or something red or purple like beets. I had some anxiety writing down dozens of ideas, going back and forth on what the best painting would be. Thinking too much about what people would want. Is this good enough? Interesting enough?

Broccoli Cheddar Soup Memories

So I found myself falling back into a pattern of perfectionism. Which I’ve been struggling with lately. I try not to be hard on myself, but because of my mental health struggles and fluctuations in circumstances, hormones, environments, it gets hard sometimes to maintain a base level of calm. I struggle with resting. With giving myself a break and allowing myself to make mistakes. So, I thought way too much about this recipe. Finally, I gave myself permission to throw my color rule out the window, and I truly thought about what I wanted to eat. And it was broccoli cheddar soup.

Immediately I started thinking about trips to Panera as a teenager when we would indulge in chocolate crinkle cookies around the holidays and sip broccoli cheddar soup out of a bread bowl. One of my favorite things was eating the soggy, cheesy bread after my hard work. I didn’t want to make a loaf of homemade bread this week just to serve as a vessel for my soup. So, instead, I decided to make a cheddar-filled pie dough. A broccoli and cheese galette. The idea excited me. It was green, too. And I started to crave that familiar cheesy vegetable paired with a thick layer of carbs.

Cheddar and Sour Cream Pie Dough

I started the recipe in the morning a couple days ago by throwing together a typical pie dough. Starting with cold butter and flour. I worked the butter and flour into crumbs. Then, I added a mixture of ice water and sour cream. And I grated a bunch of sharp white cheddar into the dough. Spoiler alert, the taste of the dough reminded me so much of those cheddar biscuits from Red Lobster. So good. I brought the dough together into a block and wrapped it in plastic wrap. It chilled in the fridge all day while I took a trip to UPS. The closest store is a 40 minute drive from my house.

I felt a lot of anxiety that day. My mind at its worst latches onto the negative things in my life and obsesses over them. How could I be in Europe a couple weeks ago? Walking by the river with street singers and eating pastel de nata? The stark contrast of the cold, gray weather in Maine has been draining my body and mind. Having less to do and walking less has given me more time to think. I’ve always felt a sense of claustrophobia when I’m at home. Like I’ll never “escape” the monotony of the life I have here. But there are also amazing things about being here. My family. Food. Comfort. Relaxation.

Recipe Planning and Overthinking

The thing I’m trying to learn is to find joy in the everyday. To take life one day at a time. Learn how to relax and not feel guilty. To fuel my body and mind and to be my own best friend. It’s hard sometimes. Sometimes I want to bundle up and eat soup and be a hermit. Watch A24 movies and cry. Stay up all night and sleep the day away. But, I have a life to live, and a lot of goals. It’s hard to find a balance between comfort and relaxation and unhealthily high ambition. I think rolling out pie dough and getting my hands dirty with butter and flour really helped. After a stressful day of errands and diving headfirst into the shock of American Walmart, I rushed home to finish my recipe before it got dark.

I spent the entire drive home making the recipe in my head. Should I cook the broccoli or just cut it? Should I cook it in water or stock? Cream? How much cheese should I use? How long will the galette take to cook? I stressed myself out completely, and nearly ran into the kitchen when I got home to cook. I started by blanching my broccoli in boiling water, then ice water. Thin slices of broccoli would cut down on the cooking time and mimic the thinness of apple slices in apple pie. So, I broke out my old mandolin and nearly cut my finger off. Then, I threw together a simple improvised béchamel and mixed it with my broccoli slices.

Baking the Broccoli and Cheese Galette

I rolled out the cheese galette dough, which firmed up in the fridge but retained a pleasant softness from the sour cream. It rolled beautifully with a little flour into a large, rough circle. I piled my broccoli and béchamel mix on top. I seasoned it, then grated a ton of fresh sharp cheddar on top. Then, I folded the edges of the broccoli and cheese galette over, which never gets old, and baked it on a pretty high heat for nearly 30 minutes. It was getting dark outside, and I was battling the clock. I work with natural light only for photos, so I began to panic. Then, I remembered my dad built me a pizza oven stand when I was away. I could use it like a table, outside, with my black backdrop, to get as much light as possible.

I nervously squatted in front of the oven and peeked frequently. Assaulted by clouds of thick, hot steam. Then, I grabbed my hot pan with an old potholder when the galette looked golden and crisp. I threw open the slider door and placed my pan on the pizza stand, photographing in a hurry as the light disappeared. I didn’t really get good photos. My shutter speed was so low that my photos blurred. I didn’t have time to troubleshoot. But I decided to give myself a break and finish my photos the next day. I sat down with a hot, cheesy slice of my broccoli and cheese galette and caught up on The Great British Baking Show.

Taste Test

The bottom of the broccoli and cheese galette was perfectly crisp. The broccoli and béchamel filling was molten after cooking in the hot oven. The fresh sharp cheddar pulled and crisped onto the crust. The broccoli still had a slight chew, which was pleasant. My first taste was filled with cheese and broccoli flavor. It reminded me so much of my favorite broccoli cheddar soup. The crust was tender, soft yet crisp, and tasted like my beloved cheddar scone recipe. So savory and buttery. Paired with the broccoli and cheese galette filling, it was perfect. Almost like that formative bread bowl at Panera.

Final Thoughts

Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoy my paintings and recipes, be sure to check out my Etsy for 100+ recipe cards and art prints. Use code THEFORKEDRING for 25% off. I’ll be settling in, here in Maine, bracing for the cold winter. Yet, excited to make many more comfort foods and to re-learn how to relax. How to be less hard on myself. And to enjoy the quietude of this candle-lit house in the woods.

Print Pin

Broccoli Cheddar Soup Galette

A cheddar pie crust wrapped around a broccoli, béchamel and cheddar filling.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword broccoli, broccoli cheddar soup, galette, Hand Pie

Prep Time 2 hours hours

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups AP flour + 2 tbsp
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 10 tbsp cold unsalted butter
• 2 cups shredded cheddar
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 10 oz broccoli florets
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock
• 1/3 cup fresh parmesan
• 3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp whole milk or cream
• Sea salt for seasoning

Instructions

• In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups AP flour, 1/2 tbsp salt, 1/2 tbsp sugar, 8 tbsp of your cold butter, and 3/4 cup of cheddar. Combine with a fork until dough resembles coarse sand.
• Add your cold water and sour cream and bring the dough together into a cohesive disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 475°F.
• Fill a large stockpot 2/3 of the way with water. Heat over high heat until boiling.
• Prepare your broccoli by cutting florets off of the broccoli head. Discard the stem. Prepare a large bowl of ice cold water for blanching your broccoli.
• Once the stock pot of water is boiling, add your broccoli and cook for 5 minutes until bright green. Remove your cooked broccoli with a spider or slotted spoon and place into the bowl of ice water to stop cooking.
• After 10 minutes, remove your broccoli from the bowl of ice water and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Cut florets into thin slices with a knife or mandolin and transfer to a clean bowl.
• In a medium saucepan, melt 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Once melted, season with a little salt and pepper and add 2 tbsp flour. Whisk into a roux.
• Cook roux for 3-4 minutes until lightly golden brown. Then, add your heavy cream and chicken or vegetable stock and whisk to combine.
• Cook until slightly thickened, or until the béchamel coats the back of a spoon. Pour into your bowl of sliced broccoli and combine.
• Add another 3/4 of a cup of shredded cheddar, parmesan, and garlic to your broccoli and béchamel mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
• Remove your pie dough from the fridge and roll into a large circle on a lightly floured work surface (about 16” in diameter). Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Place your broccoli cheese filling on the center of the pie disc and fold the dough edges over the filling to form a galette.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and milk to make an egg wash. Brush over the edges of the pie dough, then top your galette with the rest of the shredded cheddar and a sprinkle of sea salt.
• Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until the pie dough is golden brown and caramelized. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.