my kitchen

roasted cauliflower soup

January 26, 2014

My mom visited me back in December and I made her this soup… she loved it beyond belief. Honestly, she spoke of it during her whole trip and beyond… “how did you make that soup again?”

Here it is, Mom:

A couple of things, this recipe can easily be modified to be deliciously vegan or vegetarian.

Let’s get started…

hardware you will need

cassoulet or soup pan
sautée pan
blend stick
baking sheet

If you don’t have a blend stick, I highly recommend obtaining one. I have a Cuisinart and it works great–it has a small foot print, it’s easy to clean and it comes in a dizzying array of colors–I went with the 50’s teal.

ingredients

4-5 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 medium yellow onions
a few cloves of peeled garlic
1 head of cauliflower
1 quart of chicken or vegetable stock
diced spicy peppers (optional)
diced turkey bacon (optional)
toscano cheese, shredded (optional)
olive oil
S&P to taste

I had to explain this to my mom, but I use two pans for this recipe. Essentially, I sauté what I want blended in one pan, and what I want to be textural/whole in the other. In the soup pan I caramelize a diced onion with a few cloves of garlic in a few tablespoons of olive oil. In the sauté pan I sauté the sliced carrots, diced onion, diced peppers (optional–I like to use a few varieties of spicy peppers for added heat), and turkey bacon (optional–leave out for a vegan version).

While the aforementioned is sautéing slice the cauliflower into 1/2″ thick “steaks” and place on a baking sheet.

Drizzle with a little olive oil and top with a few cranks of fresh cracked pepper and sea salt.

Roast at 450°F. Depending on your stove this can take 4-7 minutes per side. Make sure to flip. You want a nice browned cauliflower steak and for the meat of the cauliflower to be nice and soft.

Once the onion in the soup pan is clear add a quart of chicken or vegetable stock. Increase the heat to medium-high, just below a boil.

By now the other sauté pan should be getting nice and deliciously sublime.

After the cauliflower has become super soft it’s time to use your blend stick. Reduce the heat to low and submerse the blend stick carefully blending the chicken/veggie stock, cauliflower and onions and garlic.

This smells so good! After you have a nice consistency and the soup base is smooth and creamy add the contents of the sauté pan.

Almost done! Gently stir the soup.

As I mentioned, if you use veggie stock and omit the turkey bacon this makes an extremely flavorful and delicious vegan soup. If you want a creamier soup experience you can garnish with some shredded Toscano cheese.

I have gotten in the habit of buying my favorite cheese and shredding it with my food processor. You wouldn’t believe the price savings. 8 ounces of solid cheese is much cheaper than 5 ounces of pre-shredded cheese.