Soup is the best thing. It really is. You cook some things ’til they are soft, add the right herbs and spices, blend to your desired texture, add a little cream, and you have a warm bowl of delicious flavor, simple to serve and consume, and easy to present. I’m just surprised it took me so long to post one. I’m pretty sure I make a new soup at least every two weeks. Anyways. Here is one I liked…
Cauliflower and Pumpkin with charred cauliflower. I used chicken stock to make this instead of chicken broth because it was what I had in the kitchen. Came out great regardless, but if you want to try and improve on this recipe, go for it. Otherwise, nothing fancy happening here, except the touch of fennel. You can make this recipe just with the onion and celery, and its quite nice, but including the fennel takes this from good soup to something you can really impress someone with, which achieves the second objective of good cooking after eating good food – forcing people to like you. Right? If you are a really terrible person, try cooking this soup. I bet people will smile at you. If you are a decent person, make this soup anyway because…soup.
Pumpkin and Cauliflower soup with Charred Cauliflower
Soup that a friendly, decent person would make
Ingredients
- 10oz (300g) pumpkin
- 12oz (350g) chopped cauliflower (7oz [150g] for soup, 5 [200g] to char)
- 2.5oz (65g) onion (about half of a medium sized onion)
- 2.5oz (65g) celery
- 2.5oz (65g) fennel
- 2 cups (500ml) chicken broth
- 1/4 cup (50ml) cream
- 1 tsp ground Coriander
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
- 1 1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence (1 tsp for soup, 1/2 tsp to char)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1. Add broth and chopped vegetables to a large pot and bring all of it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add coriander, salt, and pepper.
2. Allow everything to simmer for 15 minutes. The celery will have a little bite to it still, but otherwise the vegetables should be tender.
3. Add the Herbes de Provence and simmer for about 7 more minutes.
4. Remove from heat. Blend until smooth (I use a hand blender, less transferring of things back and forth, but your standing blender will work just fine even though you have more to clean up than me)
5. Stir in cream.
Charred Cauliflower
1. In a non-stick pan melt butter on medium heat.
2. Add cauliflower, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and Herbes de Provence. Stir until everything is evenly distributed.
3. Raise heat to high. Without stirring allow everything to cook until you see the edges of the cauliflower begin to burn.
4. Stir to turn the cooked pieces, and then allow to char again.
5. Remove from heat. Stir in parmesan until it is melted.
6. After adding soup to bowls, add about 2 tablespoons of charred cauliflower on top. Please get creative and figure out a better way to do this than me (see the above photo).
7. Put the below song on. You love it because you are arrogant, and stubborn. You’ll get smiles because your friends are just like you, or because the soup is so good.
makefoodeatlove.com 