Monday, January 22, 2018

Cauliflower Soup

This soup is adapted from a recipe on Americas Test Kitchen. We made/served it for a major dinner party. This is a scaled back version, so the water may be slightly out of proportion. It can be adjusted at the end as necessary.
The beauty of this soup is that it has all the richness of a cream based soup - but with no cream. There is some butter in the recipe, but I suspect that it could be made vegan with the use of a neutral oil. I haven't tried that though.
You don't need to be very precise with the cutting, it all goes into the blender at the end, anyway.

Picture Courtesy of Jim Brewer

Ingredients

2T butter (substitute oil perhaps)
1 large leek, white and light green parts only. Sliced finely and thoroughly washed
1/2 yellow onion (NOT Vidalia or 1015) sliced thinly
1/2t kosher salt (there will be more salt later)
1 large head of cauliflower (divided use - 2/3 and 1/3)
4 cups water
Kosher salt to taste
Chipotle in adobo for garnish
Jalapeno corn bread/pepita croutons (or any other crunchy croutons)
Very coarse sea salt for crunch.
Finishing oil for drizzling

Method

Soften the leeks/onions in the butter/oil over medium low heat. Add the first salt as they begin to soften. Do not allow them to brown.
While the leeks and onions are softening, divide the cauliflower, making sure that there are no green leafy bits. Slice the stalks thinly and put them with the 2/3 side. 
When the leeks and onions have softened, add the 2/3 cauliflower and the water. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 15 minutes - until the cauliflower is cooked through.
Then add the remaining cauliflower to the pot and simmer for another 12 minutes (take the time from when the pot reaches simmering temp).
Transfer the contents of the pot to your blender and blend until very smooth. Note, of course that this is hot and will probably attempt to splash out of the blender, so make sure you have a towel around the blender and press the lid on tightly through the towel. If in doubt blend in batches for safety.
Strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer - to remove any lumps that the blender missed.
Adjust the texture using boiling water. Adjust the seasoning, remembering that you will be adding coarse salt later.
Serve in warmed bowls with croutons and chipotle. Add a little  swirl of olive oil and the crunchy, coarse salt.
Take a bow!
We served this with a nice Chardonnay from Nickel and Nickel.




No comments: