Cream of Cauliflower Soup
This is a creamy soup with deep flavors that are sure to warm you up on a chilly day. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! | www.lakesidetable.com
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion finely diced
- 2 small parsnip (or carrot) finely diced
- 3 stalks celery finely diced
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 pounds cauliflower chopped into small pieces
- 1 head garlic, cloves separated paper removed
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 1 sachet*
- salt and white pepper to taste
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Instructions
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Melt the butter and sweat the onion, parsnip and celery to 3-4 minutes over medium heat. Do not brown.
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Sprinkle flour over vegetables, lower heat, and make a blond roux. Cook 2-3 minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste.
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Slowly whisk in the chicken stock, bring to a boil and add the sachet. Lower heat immediately after it starts to boil to a simmer.
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Add cauliflower and garlic. Simmer for 1 hour.
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Take sachet out and discard. Pass soup through a food mill or puree with an immersion hand blender.*
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Add milk and cream. Heat soup again until it's steaming. Do not let it boil. Season with salt and white pepper.
Recipe Notes
sachet is a bundle of 1 bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 large sprig of fresh thyme, 6 peppercorns, and 4 sprigs of parsley. Wrap these up in a piece of cheesecloth and tie them with kitchen twine.
*For an incredibly creamy soup, use an immersion blend and then pass it through a food mill once or even twice.
Garnish with cooked cauliflower, fresh thyme, or parsley if desired.
GARLIC NOTE: Peel garlic if using a blender to puree the soup. If you use a food mill, you can leave the garlic paper on. The food mill will keep it from going through.
Cauliflower, in general, plays well with others. Try these variations and you'll see what I mean!
- Roasted Cauliflower Soup - Add the cauliflower in the beginning with the parsnips, onion, and celery. This time brown all the vegetables together in the butter. Then add the chicken stock, garlic, and herbs and simmer.
- Cheezy Cauliflower Soup - Slowly stir in 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese after adding the milk and cream.
- Creamy Broccoli Cauliflower Soup - Chop 1 crown of broccoli along with its stem into 1-inch cubes. Simmer it in the soup with the roasted cauliflower florets. Omit the ground nutmeg. Finish with a squeeze of lemon.
- Garlic Cauliflower Soup - Increase the amount of garlic in the above recipe to 3 heads.
- Spinach Cauliflower Soup - Sauté 6 cups of fresh baby spinach with onions and parsnips.
- Creamy Butternut Squash Cauliflower Soup - Roast 4 cups of large diced butternut squash and add it to the soup with the roasted cauliflower.