Cauliflower Soup

In winter, Berlin's vegetable offerings can be bleak, but cauliflower is one of the few things for sale at green markets and grocery stores that stands proud and tall, creamy white within its tightly furled green leaves. I like it steamed and served with a lemon vinaigrette or cloaked in a creamy mustard-dotted béchamel, roasted in the oven with capers and parsley or stewed on the stove-top with anchovies and mashed into a silky pasta sauce. But I'd never really thought of it for soup the way I do when I see a squash or a leek. Then a single spoonful of an ethereal cauliflower soup at a restaurant in Paris made it difficult for me to concentrate on anything else, so a few days after getting back from our holiday, I got to work.

Now, a word about appearances. Cauliflower soup will never win a beauty award. It will never enchant you with its looks. Unlike a glowing squash soup, for example, or a vivid spinach one, cauliflower soup is the quieter, younger cousin tending towards having bad posture. But that's kind of its appeal, too. It's quiet and unassuming, but deeply comforting and creamy (despite having nary of speck of dairy or animal fat in sight) and, actually, if dressed up in the right way - a sprinkling of Espelette pepper here, a pretty china plate there - it can be rather elegant.

Like all puréed vegetable soups, it barely requires a recipe. You stew a leek in olive oil until soft and translucent, though you could use an onion instead. You wash and slice your cauliflower roughly, tip the creamy florets into the pan for a little while, then add water and boil quietly until the cauliflower is soft and tender. What's important, I find, with cauliflower soup is that you must really lean on your immersion blender. You want the soup to be impossibly silky, free of the tiniest of lumps (unlike that little one lurking up there in the lower righthand corner). Purée until the soup takes on a gentle sheen and drips from the spoon like oil.

Turn to your seasonings, which are nothing more than salt and half a lemon squeezed into the soup. For color, you can sprinkle piment d'Espelette on each serving, but it's hardly necessary. I like a few homemade croutons, chewy peasant bread that you've roasted with a little slick of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt in the oven for a while, floating on top. The crunch and toast are a nice contrast to that sweet, vegetal purée.

Cauliflower Soup
Serves 4 to 5

1 leek or 1 onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cauliflower, green leaves and trunk removed
Water
Salt
1/2 lemon
Piment d'Espelette, optional
Homemade croutons, optional

1. Peel and clean the leek and cut into thin slices, discarding the tough green tops. Warm olive oil in a heavy pot and gently sauté the leek in the olive oil until wilted, 5 to 7 minutes. In the meantime, wash the cauliflower and slice thickly. Add the cauliflower to the pot and stir to combine. After 2 to 3 minutes, add enough water to cover the vegetables.

2. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and, using an immersion blender, purée until smooth and creamy. Add salt to taste and the juice of the 1/2 lemon.

3. Serve dusted with piment d'Espelette or homemade croutons.

Comments

[Lena]

Hey Luisa, I would like to see your other recipes for cauliflower, too! I am a really NOT fan of cauliflower (and the last try was indeed a soup), but I'm always trying to get to the "like point" with it (although I think I will never be a fan of it). The one with the bèchamel sounds the best for my ears :).

[Natasha]

I love a silky cauliflower soup, and I alternate between two variations, one with toasted hazelnuts whizzed with the soup and a little hazelnut oil drizzled on the top; the nuts add a delicious, indefinable toastiness. It's also really delicious with some truffle oil drizzled over just before you serve it. Two earthy tastes in perfect harmony.

[notyet100]

i am craving for some now,..:-)

[Giulia]

I've been making cauliflower soup for years and it's a winter standby in my house. I find it has a tendency to turn a little grey or murky looking and I have added white miso over the years for the flavour and the help it gives the colour.

Yours looks just wonderful.

[Anna]

A simpler, but no less delicious version: sautee onion, add cauliflower fleurettes, add water, boil. When boiled, serve with sour cream and plenty of dill.
Love the blog, can't wait for your posts!

[Sonia]

Ooh, it looks like comfort in a bowl!!

I'd also like to say CONGRATULATIONS on the news of your engagement, (I've just read the happy new year post, but the comments are closed).I hope that you have the most wonderful 2011, and that it brings you all that you dream of.

[Rachel]

Oh, wonderful timing. I was planning a cauliflower soup for next week, with croutons. One of my favourite lunches during this time of year is roasted cauliflower with a grilled cheese sandwich made with good, chewy bread and gruyère or cheddar.

[Bettina]

Mmmm... it's definitely going on my to-cook list for next week too. It just sounds so creamy and comforting and wonderful.

[Victoria]

Well, Luisa,

How fortuitous is this?

For a long time, I have been searching for a first-rate split pea soup recipe, and Molly posts one.

Now, when I am upstate in 12-degree weather surrounded by 32 (yes, thirty-two!) inches of snow with a little fresh, but abandoned, cauliflower sitting in the refrigerator begging me to cook her, you post a recipe for silky, delicious cauliflower soup.

Tonight's the night.

[Kathrynn]

Wow, this sounds lovely. It's so South Beach friendly for those of us looking to lose a few pesky holiday pounds :) Can't wait to make this!

[Jennifer]

I looooooove me some cauliflower! I recently made my first attempt at soup after procuring my first immersion blender and enameled cast iron dutch oven. I'm wondering if you have any tips for that desired silky texture?
I roasted my cauliflower before dumping it into the liquid, and then no matter how much I blended with the immersion blender (followed by long desperate whizzes in the blender) I just couldn't smooth the graininess. I thought the cauliflower was soft enough, but maybe not? Luckily it still tasted great, but I've been wondering what I could have done differently ever since.
Thanks!

[Luisa]

Sonia - thank you!!

Jennifer - you should boil the cauliflower instead of roasting it. Roasting it dries out the vegetable, whereas boiling it keeps it - obviously - wet in the broth. When you go to purée then, you'll have something silky but not grainy.

[Jenny]

Just made this and it is my new favorite soup! I used chicken stock instead of water and added juice from the whole lemon -- delicious and my family loved it too. I especially like that it doesn't have cream in it....

[jenny]

I have been on a bit of a cauliflower kick lately, beginning with melissa clark's cauliflower salad:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/dining/05apperex.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=cauliflower%20salad&st=cse

you must try if you haven't. (and it is perfectly good with spinach if you can't find watercress ... which of course, I can't--not even when it's in season.)

but now the salad is gone and my heart longs for more cauliflower. I guess it's time to make soup!

[Louisa]

Hi Luisa, I also love cauliflower soup. Have you tried Nigel Slater's cauliflower, mustard and cheddar version? Delicious!

[Cynthia]

This looks lovely, healthy fat, no dairy and lots of wonderful cauliflower. For those of us trying to eat a more plant-based diet, this is a fantastic way to start the new year! Thank you, Luisa.

[Jessika]

About the rabe and other greens. One tip is to well, grow them yourself. It's not that difficult if you have a small balcony. Just set aside a little patch with pots. What leafy greens require, however, is quite alot of water.

[Serena]

Mi piace troppo come scrivi!!

[abby jenkins]

I love cauliflower! Can't wait to try this soup, I have been on a real roll lately making pots and pots of it. Great recipe for tortilla soup on my blog. I guarantee you will love it!

[tasteofbeirut]

Love cauliflower, especially fried with tarator sauce; but this creamy soup would be a welcome one at my kitchen and certainly healthier too!

[a-man]

Delicious vegetarian recipe! Nice photos.

[Annie palmieri]

I LOVE cauliflower, and it does make a devine velvety soup. Great blog!
http://scrumptiousamp.blogspot.com/

[foodie and the chef]

Looks delish - there's nothing like cauliflower to warm the cockles of your soul... as well as soups I use it in gratins and curries a lot in winter - yummy :)

[Sprinzette]

Wow - who knew cauliflower could be this appealing. Added to the list.

[Stef]

I made this on Saturday and added a tbs of curry powder when I sauteed the cauliflower. It was amazing! The touch of lemon juice was inspired - thanks Louisa!

[Isabella]

This is making me hungry. yum!

[Oana]

Awesome recipe Luisa, it brings me back to my childhood :). In Romania I grew up with cauliflower soup. It was a staple in our house along with another cauliflour dish called conopida. Eastern Europe loooves cauliflower :).