Crab Cakes and Broccoli Soup

The other night, I was watching one of the cooking channels and watched Emeril make some crab cakes. I notice later that he has made many version over the years, but this one really looked good and simple. Here is the recipe. I didn't bother with making the sauce. I ate my crab cake like a sandwich in a big romaine lettuce leaf. It is important to note that it's a loose crab cake, meaning when you flip it over it's a bit on the loose side and that is how it was done when I watched him make it on TV. He even mentioned how it doesn't always have to be neat and they ate the crab cakes with a fork. Here is the crab cake recipe:

I served that with my new favorite VERY EASY to make creamy brocolli soup. I actually got that recipe from Gordan Ramsay. I was bored one night and was watching different cooking videos he has out there. Plus, It was really interesting watching how he cooks and how he trys to teach people to cook. He is really good at making simple dishes taste really good. I heard he entered this into a competition where the other person had like 20 ingredients in there broccoli soup and his was better.

You would NOT believe that the soup is pretty much only 2 ingredients. Brocolli and the water the brocolli was cooked in. However, if you really want to spiff it up - take some goat cheese or cream cheese and put on the bottom of a bowl. Pour hot brocolli soup over it and it will melt into it giving it a yummy creamy texture. Little salt and pepper and even a few drizzles of some olive oil. Recipe is below:

Gordan Ramsay's Broccoli Soup
Ingredients
Water
Salt
Black pepper
2-3 heads of Broccoli very fresh
Olive oil optional, for garnish

Preparation

Cut the florets off the heads of broccoli. Cut the stems into similarly sized pieces. Add all of the broccoli -- florets and stems -- into a pot of rapidly-boiling, salted water (2 tablespoons salt in 5 quarts of water). Cover. Cook 3.5 to 4 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, put the cooked broccoli pieces into a blender. Fill blender about halfway with the cooking liquid. Make sure you use the water the brocolli cooked in. Blend carefully since it's hot. Add more cooking liquid as necessary to achieve the desired consistency. Add some salt and pepper.

Extra Note* Be double careful because when you blend hot liquid and the cover is not on tight - it can make a mess. You could also pulse a few times to get it going first too.

If desired, add cheese (goat cheese or cheddar cheese) to the bottom of the bowl before pouring the soup in. Serve, drizzled with olive oil if desired.