Last Night's Soup

So, because of this little Hurricane Sandy thing going on, it seemed to be the perfect time to make soup.  I am a menu planner galore, but sometimes, meals get postponed for whatever reason.  Maybe I made soup two nights in a row and my husband didn't want soup a third time that week.  Yea, that could have been it.  Luckily though, cauliflower keeps for awhile.

Since I just finally decided to commit to this blog thing, I don't have any prep pictures-sorry.  Hopefully that'll be better for future posts.  I can however give you the recipe, and my changes to it.

Roasted Cauliflower and Aged White Cheddar Soup

Servings: 4+ servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 tablespoons oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
3 cups vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups aged white cheddar, shredded (about a 6 oz hunk of cheese)
1 cup milk or cream
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Toss the cauliflower florets in the oil along with the salt and pepper and arrange them in a single layer on a large baking sheet.
2. Roast the cauliflower in a preheated 400F oven until lightly golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.
3. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat.
4. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
5. Add the garlic and thyme and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
6. Add the broth and cauliflower, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
7. Puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency with a stick blender.
8. Mix in the cheese, let it melt and season with salt and pepper.
9. Mix in the milk and remove from heat.

You can find the original recipe here.

The notes in red are the things I changed.  Not much huh?  That's because the recipe sounded great on it's own.  With most soups, I served it along side some oven toasted bread with a touch of oil drizzled on and then rubbed with garlic.

As with a lot of my recipes lately, it came to me via Pinterest.  My goal in the coming months is to cook everything on my "Foodness" Board.  I'm noticing that I get older, I'm more willing to try things that I don't normally think of as yummy.  Cauliflower isn't the tops of that list, but other than raw, I pretty much don't eat it.

Now for the good stuff, the pictures:

I think the coloring of the soup was from the use of stock as opposed to broth.  I had the stock on hand, so that's what I went with.

I added some extra of the shredded cheese and some more pepper on top!

I mean really, what is better than crust bread with a *hint* of garlic?

Overall, this recipe was fantastic.  It was super easy, quick to make up.  It filled my tummy and is keeping me happy with it's leftovers.  I do think it needs just a little something else.  Probably a touch of acid-lemon juice?

Hope you enjoy the meal as much as I did!  And please let me know if you have any cauliflower recipes I might enjoy.  I'm definitely a roasted veggie girl which is why this recipe caught my tastebuds!