Taste of Empava: Devin Alston’s Brussels Sprout And Gorgonzola Soup

Fall is suddenly here, and along with it is the promise of cozy nights in, warm socks and scarves, and something delicious and indulgent to cook. We can help you with that last one as, to continue with our Taste of Empava series, here is a rich and warming Brussels sprouts and Gorgonzola soup recipe, created by chef Devin Alston. This soup is perfect for this time of year, and is just the recipe for you to cook on your Empava range or cooktop.

Cooking with Brussels sprouts

Before you turn your nose up at the thought of Brussels sprouts, we have reason to believe you will love this soup recipe.

It’s time to celebrate our fall vegetables and why not experiment with Brussels sprouts? They are primarily known for their appearance at Christmas (which no one is particularly happy about), but have you ever tried them in other recipes?

Devin says Brussels sprouts are a very underrated ingredient and therefore wanted to highlight them in this velvety soup. He continues, saying Brussels sprouts have a bitter flavor, which, coming from the Brassica family of vegetables, is understandable. All of these veggies are famous for their bitterness: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and collard greens. None benefit from being overcooked, and interestingly, none of them are particularly popular – there might be a correlation there…

However, this recipe soothes that bitterness by cooking the Brussels sprouts until soft, and pairs them with creamy rich Gorgonzola cheese. The fat from the Gorgonzola bolsters the sprouts along with the other ingredients of fresh thyme and garlic, full of delicious powerful flavor which the Brussels sprouts absorb like little sponges. Sour cream and Gorgonzola are gently mixed together to create an enriched and indulgent cream to serve on top. All you need to do now is sip your soup next to the fire.

Devin adds that this Brussels sprouts soup is a treat. Yes, you heard. It’s that good.

Tips for garnishing your soup

While a simple bowl of soup is warm and tasty, Devin showed us some tricks to make your soup beautiful and eye-catching:

Have you ever tried frying thyme sprigs before? Crispy thyme leaves add fragrance and texture, and are visually striking by creating sharp right angles on the soup’s surface.
Soup garnishes often reflect the soup’s flavor, so why not try some crunchy, caramelized sprout leaves? Devin adds, once you roast the Brussels sprouts, they ‘add a very good dimension to the soup’ through their charred smokey flavor.
A creamy blob of Gorgonzola sour cream, strong and rich from the cheese, and tasty enough to lick from the bowl.
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil full of freshness to off-set the rich cheese.
A sprinkling of micro herbs – if you’re feeling fancy!

Cooking on your Empava range

For slow stove cooking, we couldn’t recommend our Professional Slide-in Natural Gas Range Top more highly.

The Empava design makes it easy to cook multiple dishes at once, including this soup and all its garnishes! A range of six burners naturally reignite if accidentally extinguished, each set producing a different degree of power with the dual burner being perfect for low and slow simmering, ideal for soup making. The blue LED indicator lights in the zinc alloy knobs reveal which burners are on, and of course the clean up is as easy as possible. Simply slide off the grates and pop them straight in the dishwasher as you clean the one-piece range.

With this stove top, you can feel in control of the food, and you will master the kitchen!

Furthermore, the Empava 36HR04 wall-mounted hood brings the professional kitchen to your home, efficiently ventilating heat, odors and fumes without you needing to open a window. A three-speed fan whisks away steam, and your food is clearly illuminated by LED hood lights, so you can cook on dark fall evenings. Once again, it is effortless to clean and the filter can be simply put in the dishwasher when necessary.

Get cozy this fall with a bowl of Devin’s Brussels Sprout and Gorgonzola soup, cooked on your Empava range.

Brussels Sprout and Gorgonzola cheese soup:

Serves: 6

Prep time: 15 to 20 mins

Cook time: 45 minutes

2 tbs olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 thyme sprigs, leaves picked, plus extra sprigs to serve
1 large potato, peeled, chopped into 2cm pieces
600g Brussels sprouts, halved
2L (8 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
100g Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
100g sour cream

Method :
1. Heat oil in a large, deep saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, celery and thyme leaves. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until the onion is softened
2. Add potato, sprouts and 1/4 cup (60ml) water to the pan. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until sprouts are softened, adding more water if it starts to stick. Pour over the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to very low and simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Season.
3. In batches, transfer to a blender (or use a stick blender) and blend until smooth.
4. Combine Gorgonzola and sour cream in a bowl. Serve soup topped with a swirl of Gorgonzola mixture, a drizzle of olive oil and extra thyme sprigs.