After a spate of parties (sprinkled amongst lots of work) recently, I’ve been craving vegetable soups. And not just any soups, either – the thick, silky vegetable veloutés that were so easy to come by when I was living in France. In particular, I’ve missed the ease of having pre-made vegetable purées frozen in small blocks – if only we had that in Australia!
In any case, my particular yearnings of late have tended towards broccoli and cauliflower. A quick google search led me to one particularly excellent recipe from Lorette (http://alatabledel.canalblog.com/): her Soupe de chou-fleur aux épices.
Since I’m quite a cauliflower fan and didn’t wish to tone the flavour down, I’ve made a few small changes (in both ingredients and method) while translating. For the real deal, please head over to the link above!
Spiced cauliflower soup
- 1 cauliflower, crumbled for speedier cooking
- 1 onion, chopped
- several cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon cream (optional)
- olive oil
- 1/2 litre of vegetable stock
- Salt and pepper
- a sprinkle of paprika for final decoration (optional)
- Crumble the cauliflower into small florets, wash and cook in a large pot for 10 minutes in enough boiling water to cover (approx 1.5L).
- In a small saucepan, saute onions, garlic and ginger in olive oil. Then, on low heat, add turmeric, cumin and coriander and mix well.
- Add to garlic/onion/ginger/spice mix to the cauliflower, add 500ml vegetable stock, salt lightly (if desired, I find the stock salty enough) and bring to a boil. Simmer for ten minutes.
- Blend the soup in with a stick blender, add the cream (if desired) and blend again. OR add the cream in a swirl just before serving. Enjoy hot or cold.
