Creamy Cauliflower Soup from "Soup Night"
In a departure from standard recipe-writing protocol, I'm including the ingredients and instructions exactly as written in the book, with the sole purpose of showing the nature of its recipes. In practice, however, I did saute the leeks and onions first in some oil, before continuing with the recipe as written. The cooking technique here is basically a slow-cooker process — dump everything in and heat it up — which means that if your stove is full up with other soups that need hovering over on your Soup Night, you can easily make this in a slow cooker. The soup is simplicity in itself, and is prime for all kinds of toppings and add-ins, such as chopped nuts, crushed red pepper flakes (which I used in the photos), croutons, pepitas, parmesan crisps or a drizzle of sriracha. This soup is also super easy to veganize without losing a lick of flavor: just substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth, and coconut milk for the dairy.
Servings 6
Ingredients
- 8 leeks trimmed and finely chopped, white part only
- 2 medium onions finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 cauliflower head finely chopped (about 6 cups)
- 4 bay leaves
- 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 2 2/3 cups nonfat milk heated
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- chopped fresh chives for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the leeks, onions, cauliflower, bay leaves, and chicken broth in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook, covered, until the cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
- Add the hot milk, salt, and pepper, and transfer the soup to a blender (careful, it's hot) and puree until smooth, then return to the pot. Or use an immersion belnder and puree the soup right in the pot.
- Serve hot with a sprinkling of cheese or your other favorite topping.