About an hour before the class ended, the instructor escorted us to a buffet. It was another kitchen, where other students had prepared an array of cold cut  sandwiches and salads. Had I known this earlier, I would have brought several food containers with me, to could rack up all the goodies. The food was absolutely d’luscious! I went straight for the grilled vegetable sandwich, which was out-of-this-world, and would transform any carnivore into a strict vegetarian.

As I headed to a table to be seated, I notice a huge bowl, which I passed by. There were several salad dressings included in the buffet; so my initial thought, was that this bowl was simply another bowl of salad dressing, which I wasn’t in the mood for. As I was about to sit and enjoy my sandwich, one of the chefs, or maybe it was a student (I cant really recall) asked, “Would you like to try the soup?”
I responded, “maybe just a little” and gestured with my thumb and pointer finger exactly how “little” I really wanted to try. Well the chef/student ignored my request for “just a little” and ladled a huge spoon of the soup into my bowl and said, “here’s a little.”
I kinda chuckled to myself  and thought: ‘why did this woman pour me all this darn soup, when I only asked for a little?’ I really, honestly wanted just a spoonful. I wanted to taste a tad bit before I decided if I should indulge in a whole lot more. I don’t like the idea of wasting food at all.
As soon as I took the first sip, that thought was quickly dismissed. OMG!!!! BROCCOLI AND CHEDDAR CHEESE HEAVEN!!

I got up from my seat, walked over to the chef and asked, “who made this soup?” I had to inquire. It was incredibly divine! There was no way I was going to leave the kitchen and not get the 411 on this! The chef motioned for the student, who seemed a little apprehensive, to come over. Maybe she thought she was going to be in trouble or maybe she thought I was crazy. The chef said, “come on over, she wants to know about the soup.” I was eager to find exactly how it was prepared. It was smooth and velvetty and….I just had to know…
Bottomline, it was heavy cream, mirepoix, broccoli and cheddar cheese. I thought a little fontina would have been an ingredient, but the cheddar cheese alone was boss! She blanched the broccoli and also used an immersion blender to smooth out the soup. I thanked her kindly; knowing that I would prepare the soup as soon as I got an opportunity to purchase some heavy cream.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the cheddar broccoli soup but I had to authenticate the recipe. The Lord has blessed me with the gift of cooking and seasoning, and I knew that it was my duty to Angel”ify” this dish. For  two whole days, I thought about it.  It  would be a  Spicy- Cream of Chicken-Cheddar-Broccoli Soup. Y’all know I go hard on that scotch bonnet pepper.

My grandma enjoyed it so much, she asked, “Denise, mi can have some more of di soup. Yu think yu can manage?”
So I poured some more soup into her bowl.
She asked me a ton load of questions: “How did you get it to be so thick? What did you do? How did you make it?”
This soup isn’t the standard Jamaican soup at all, meaning, it isn’t usual and customary. So I could understand her curiosity.

I kept it hearty with butternut squash, potatoes, chayote(cho-cho) and carrots, and infused it with all the natural fresh herbs that I so adore, and of course, my scotch bonnet pepper. Oh how I love that heat! I don’t like cooked or raw celery, so the “mirepoix” would be completely eliminated from this dish. I added an entire chicken that pretty much disintegrated into the pot. I prefer meat with bones because the bones are loaded with flavor.I can’t even find my chicken back, but I won’t complain about that.
My son, Robert walked into the kitchen, took a spoonful to his lips and was at a loss for words. He too, began to bombard me with his series of questions.

Y’all really need to toss those can of soup this and can of soup that. They really ain’t got nothing on this. Cook from scratch with natural herbs and spices, your life will never be the same. I promise.

Spicy Cream of  Chicken Cheddar Broccoli Soup

Ingredients
1 Chicken cut up into 8 pieces or more
1 butternut squash peeled cubed
4 carrots peeled and cut into small pieces
5 potatoes peeled and cut into cubes
2 oriental purple potatoes cut into cubes
2 chayote (cho-cho) cut into cubes
2 cups of heavy cream
2 heads of broccoli florets
2 cups of extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 sweet onions (such as vidalia) sliced
1 scotch bonnet pepper
1 sprig of fresh thyme
3 bay leaves
5 pimento seeds
sea salt to taste
Water

Dumplings
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
a pinch of kosher salt
approximately 2 cups of water

Directions
Fill 3/4 of the pot with water and bring to a boil.
Wash and clean chicken in vinegar and water. Pat dry and cut up into pieces.
Once water comes to a boil, add chicken. The temperature will reduce. Once the water returns to a boil, the impurities from the chicken will begin to surface. Skim off the impurities and discard.
Add onions, scotch bonnet pepper, thyme, bay leaves, pimento seeds and sea salt.
Add butternut squash, carrots, purple potatoes, chayote and carrots.
Knead, shape and add dumplings to the pot. Dumplings will float to the top when done.
Once the chicken and provisions are tender and cooked, add the heavy cream and stir.

Bring a another pot of water to a boil and add the broccoli florets for 1 minute. Remove broccoli and place in a blender. Pour about 2-3 cups of the liquid from the soup, into the blender. You need enough liquid to move the broccoli. Blend until smooth and pour the blended mixture back into the pot. Stir to combine and taste.
Add the cheddar cheese and stir into the pot. Adjust seasonings if necessary.
Remove from heat and serve.