Soup, Soup, Cauliflower Soup: Recipe Monday

On Sunday, the temperature suddenly dropped in the heart of Texas and we got the chills. The husband and I spent some time outside mowing the lawn, then grocery shopping, and then it was time for dinner. I felt like soup, well because I WAS COLD. And we had a head of cauliflower in the fridge that needed to be eaten very soon. I had recently read/watched a recipe for Cream of Cauliflower soup over on Food Wishes and I thought I would give it my own vegan twist. The soup was creamy, filling and made me feel so much more comfortable.


Here is what you will need to make this comfy fall soup:

• a glob of olive oil
• 1/2 a onion, chopped
• 1 stalk of celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 potato, peeled and quartered
• 1 head of cauliflower, cleaned (remove outer leaves) and cut into chunks
• 2 cups vegetable broth or stock
• 2 1/2 cups water
• a splash of soy milk,about 1/3 cup (or regular milk if you prefer, you can also use cream)
• salt
• cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
• a pinch of nutmeg

1. In a large pot, heat up the olive oil over medium heat and add in the chopped onion and celery with a generous pinch of salt. Let the veggies soften for about 5 minutes.
2. When the onion is translucent, add in the garlic (no need for chopping), potato and cauliflower. Add the veggie stock/broth and the water and bring to a boil over high heat. Then let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes until the potato is soft.
3. Use a stick blender to puree the mixture to a smooth soup. We don't own a stick blender, so I used a regular blender to puree the soup. For that make sure to follow this method so that you and your kitchen don't get hurt*: Fill the blender only half way, put the lid on but remove the lid cap. Fold a couple sheets of paper towel and place it over the small opening in the lid. Now start to pulse the mixture in very short bursts so that the heat can escape. After pulsing the mixture about ten times you can carefully blend it on a slightly higher setting until smooth. I pureed the soup in three stages. After everything is nice and smooth, pour the soup back into the pot and return it to the stove over low heat.
4. Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste, add the pinch of nutmeg and the soy milk, stir and then taste to see whether you need to adjust the seasoning.

And there you have it. Serve it with toasted bread and enjoy :)

* The husband and I got burned pretty badly a couple of times when I made broccoli cream cheese soup a few years back. We used the blender and did not remove the little lid cap so the steam in the blender built up and eventually lifted the lid off the blender splashing us (and the kitchen) with hot green soup. It was a mess...   Eventually I stopped making the soup although we both enjoyed it, because it was just not worth the pain and the clean up was awful (when we moved out of the apartment where the exploding soup incident happened, we found soup residue on the inside of one of the cabinets...). With the method described above you should be safe. Just make sure to be careful when pureeing hot soup in a blender!