Slow Food: Roasted Cauliflower Soup
I feel like cauliflower is the the bastard stepchild of vegetables. Until keto and gluten free ways of manipulating it came along. People don’t like the smell, or the texture or the taste…this recipe is a nice way to re-introduce cauliflour in a sophisticated way. The ingredients are roasted in a pan, then blended for a silky, creamy soup that doesn’t even require cream, but you can add it because why not? You can add other spices to make it your own. This soup is simple - but I’ve also seen versions where you add some curry powder for heat/color or dressed with pesto and pine nuts for a nice dinner option. Cauliflower is a nice base for many flavors: make it your own!
Ingredients
one head of cauliflower (around 1 kg/ 2lbs or 5 cups of chopped florets)
one onion, quartered
one shallot, quartered
two small garlic cloves, peeled and stem removed
olive oil
one buillion cube (vegetarian or chicken work well)
2-3 cups of water
2 tablespoons of sour cream (optional)
salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 F/190C. In a large roasting pan add the chopped cauliflower, onion, shallot, garlic and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Salt and pepper the vegetables. Roast in the oven for about 20 min and then give it all a toss, so that it roasts evenly and place for another 15-20 minutes. The cauliflour will brown a little, but you don’t want it to burm! Remove from the oven and set aside. In a pot, add the entire batch of vegetables (save some roasted florets if you want to use as garnish) one bouillion cube and one cup of water. Bring to a simmer. Add another cup of water and simmer for about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and use a stick blender (or pour the contents in a standard blender) and here you can decide how thick or thin you would like the soup. Return to the pot. If using sour cream, add that in now. If you are happy with the texture, give it a taste and season accordingly with salt and pepper. If you want it a bit thinner, and add water half a cup at a time and go from there. When serving take some of the roasted florets and decorate. Done!