Creamy roasted cauliflower soup

December 28, 2021

To make up for the soggy boiled cauliflowers you ate for school dinners growing up, here's how to treat it right.

Anecdote

In the aftermath of Christmas, the cauliflower in Tesco was reduced to 18p. It got me thinking. I've never had cauliflower soup before so I thought this bargain was a sign from the universe. I am now seeing this humble vegetable in a new light.

Ingredients

Heartily serves two

  • 1 large cauliflower, broken into bite size florets

  • 1 large/2 small brown onions, roughly sliced into crescents

  • 4 cloves garlic, skin on and bashed

  • ~20g butter

  • ~a glug of double cream cream

  • low salt vegetable stock cube

  • freshly cracked black pepper

  • 1/4 lemon, squeezed

  • olive oil

  • sea salt

  • ~600ml hot water

Suggested garnishes and serving suggestion:

  • pancetta

  • chives, finely chopped

  • croutons to top (or toasted bread of choice on the side)

  • slices of mature cheddar

  • flaky salt

Recipe

  1. Preheat oven to 210 degrees

  2. Break up the cauliflower into florets and smash four garlic cloves, toss them with sea salt and a good glug of olive oil on a baking tray. Spread them out evenly and place in the oven for 25 minutes but take out the garlic 15 minutes in so they are just squishy and do not burn, set them to one side. The florets should be nice and brown

  3. Whilst they are roasting, slice your onions and heat ~1 tbsp olive oil in a pan. Sauté until lightly brown with a small pinch of salt

  4. If you are garnishing with pancetta, crisp them up in a separate pan. Fat will render out, I added a bit of that to the onions...

  5. Dissolve one veg stock cube in 600 ml hot water. If your onions are catching, you can drizzle a bit of veg stock to deglaze

  6. When the onions have lightly browned, squeeze out the roasted garlic and add to the pan along with the roasted florets

  7. Pour in the rest of the veg stock and let it gently simmer for 15 minutes (top up with a bit of water if it's reducing too much). Season to taste, be sure to crack a generous amount of black pepper

  8. Transfer to a blender, add a small squeeze of lemon and butter, blend until smooth

  9. Stir in the cream, you can also thin out with warm water too. If the consistency is too thin for your liking, heat in the pan to reduce

  10. Garnish with chives, croutons (or a good hunk of toasted bread), pancetta and slice up some mature cheddar to nibble on